
Class. JI^Zl^ 
Book ,^r^^ 



.ON 



NATIONAL GOVERNMENT, 



By GEORGF/ENSOR, Esq. 



.AUTHOR OF THE •' I ND E P E X DE N T MAN," 



AND 



PRINCIPLES OF MOTIALITT/' 



FIliST PART. 



IN TWO VOL U M E S. 






/^ LONDON: 

PRINTED FOa JOHNSON AxND CO., ST. FAULTS CHURCHXARD; 
FOR THE BENEFIT of' THE LITERARY FUND. 

1810. 



hrniffd ly liichtjrd Tagior ar.d Co., Skoe-Lant, London. 






ADVERTISEMENT. 

The author begs leave to inform his readers, 
that almost the whole of the present Treatise was 
transmitted to the printer at the ^lose of the year 
180S. This he thinks necessary to mention, lest 
chey might inadvertently mistake the time to which 
some of his observations refer. He also repeats a re- 
quest^ which he made on a former occasion — that his 
readers will qualify their censure of any inaccuracies 
in the impression, as he was prevented by the di^ 
stance of his residence from London frorp revising 
the press. 



ERRATA. 

VOL. I. 

Page 13 line 1 place el between ^tatis dignitatis 

35 line 1 9 place who are between and capalie 

68 line 1 read where for when 

83 line 12 dele noi 

107 line 8 insert the between of lords 

\2S line 19 dele and 

190 line 14 for monarchs read monarchies 

197 line 18 for Usii read Uxii 

198 line 16 place a before more 
222 line 2B before Saxon put the 

245 line 4 for and the agent of Philip read of Philip and his agerJ. 

269 line 22 for established read altered 

276 line 9 insert or before kings 

287 line 17 for as an read any 

308 line 7 place at after is 

3 1 2 line 9 dele ayid its members individuallij amenmhlefoT miscondur! 

327 line 16 place after e/ Me 

334 line 14 for where read when 

335 line \2 for maintain rea.d mention 
346 line 7 for their read then 

356 lines 4 and 5 for England read Greai Britain 

359 line 1 for 5a^c read sceZe 

365 line 10 after whole insert property of the state 

566 line 4 after of put the 
line 27 for i/iw read these 

389 line 20 for as read f/zai 

402 line 10 instead of induces a predominanl facliori to debar read 
a predominant faction debars 

414 line 12 after yet insert whichy in next line dele which 

422 line 22 after to be instead of execrated read hated, next line af- 
ter and insert execrated 

430 line 1 for Ligoniiis read Sigoniiis 

VOL. II. 

Page 148 line 8 for parliament rezd. polemarch 
151 line 4 place after ever?/, «icce«c?i«g- 
214 line 4 dele equally 
217 line 4 for dastards read dotards 
238 line 17 for ^gislans read Agesilaus 
268 line 2 for T/ei read anrf 

line 5 before oi insert yet 
342 line 8 for equal to read sufficient for 
384 line 22 before jusHnsert £/iai f/jci/ were most ruinous 
396 to p. 434 place after the running title fife. 
408 line 19 for thar read that 
456 line 18 dele biii 
468 line 12 after much insert as 

487 the reference — First Satire on the Dutch to be transferred to the 
bottom of the page. 



CONTENTS 

OF 

VOL. I. 

ty : ^ Page„ 

.1 RELIMINARY DisCOUTSe i * 1 

Division of political constitutions 105 

Of monarchy i ; 1 06 

Of the British monarchy ...........*.... lOf 

Of different arguments for the rights of monarchs . 112 
Of different arguments for the superior advantages 

of monarchy,— and their answer .*..., 124 

Of aristocracy 143 

Of democracy 148 

Monarchy^ aristocracy, and democracy, single or 
combined^ forming a defective government, 
shown in a review of the Roman state ..... 165 
Concerning climate as influencing laws and politi- 
cal institutions IQl 

Concerning situation , *....,.... 197 

Concerning soil ^02 

Concerning the position of nations 2S3 

Nations should possess a certain physical strength 

sufficient to preserve their independence 233 

Of confederacies 235 

States should be neither small nor laree in the ex- 

o 

treme , 246 

A census should be made preparatory to the esta- 
blishment of political society 249 

Some former opinions recapitulated 252 

The best general disposition of government stated 
and elucidated in some measure by a review 
of the Spartan constitution 257 

VOL. I. b 



vi CONTENTS. 

Page. 

Origin and progress of society and government . . . 28a 

On the savage state 284 

The origin and progress of society and govern- 
ment resumed Q^ 

Monarchy not the original government of na- 
tions 294 

Of patriarchal government 302 

Origin of a chief in the patriarchal government . . . 307 
Concerning the manner of assembling the people 

in some ancient states 311 

The progress of the British constitution, prepara- 
tory to showing the cause of representation in 

latter times . . '. , , 316 

Representation known to the ancients 347 

Concerning the local and numeral division of the ' 

people preparatory to their representation .... 352 
Of the best manner of having the people repre- 
sented — ." 353 

Want of property should not prevent any one from 

enjoying the elective franchise 367 

Nor want of family , , 372 

Nor professions .374 

Disquisition on slavery 378 

Religion no cause for obstructing men in the en- 
joyment of their civil rights 408 

Neither v^ant of property, nor family, nor profes- 
sions, nor religion, ought to debar any man 

from representing the people 428 

Want of property , ib. 

Want of family , 433 

Profession 452 

Religion , , 454 



ON 

NATIONAL GOVERNMENT. 



PRELIMINARY DISCOURSE. 

I NOW proceed to publish a scheme for National 
Government. In this performance I mean to in- 
clude whatever eminently promotes, internally or 
externally, the strength, the happiness, and the 
prosperity of nations. 1 divide the subject into 
three parts : the whole is already written ; yet, as 
each part is in a great measure complete in itself^ 
and as the work, from the variety and importance of 
it's objects, is necessarily extensive, I find, that it 
will be much more convenient to myself, and I hope 
it will not be much less convenient to the reader, 
to publish the three parts at three several timeSe 
What may be called the Constitutional Part I now 
deliver to the public : the second and third will 
soon follow, if some unexpected accident should 
not obstruct my design. 

As my former works announced, and in some 
measure prepared the reader for this publication, I 

VOL, I, B 



2 Preliminary Discourse, 

might be permitted almost to enter immediately on 
my subject ; yet, as some preliminary observations 
may be thought neither impertinent nor useless, I 
shall begin by explaining and justifying my purpose. 
And first in my own defence. 

There are some in this country, v/ho consider 
the English constitution not only as the most per- 
fect form of government, that has ever existed, 
but who profess, that it is as honest in it's admini- 
stration, as any government can be, which has 
mortals for it's ministers. — These men, so far from 
admitting a hint or expression against it's principles, 
are absolute and declared enemies to any attempt 
for it's amendment. I have myself heard a mem- 
ber of the house of lords^ who possessed vast do- 
mains in England, Ireland, and Scotland, on a 
motion for general reform^ with impatience and won- 
der ask, " What do the people want ?" In the same 
tone a farmer general in France, who had pro- 
bably begga^'ed a province, and whose rapacity had 
hastened the late revolution, exclaimed, " What 
need of reformation ' ?" To such men I can make 
no reply : they neither read nor think ; and surely 
they must be incapable both of reading and think- 

' Condorcet's Life of Turgot, note on page 249. We might 
support the farmer by a general rule in the late French mo- 
narchy. Car ceux qui manientles affaires du roi, ouqui exercent 
ses droitSj ont toujour^ raison, Soupris, partie 2. 



PreUmiyiary Discourse, 3 

ing, who averred, that France wanted no reforma- 
tion, as well as they v/ho pronounce, because in 
their estimate the constitution of the British empire 
is incapable of being meliorated either in principle 
or practice, that the people of England are capri- 
cious and visionary, if they wish, that their laws^ 
regulations, and government were improved. 

Some are less supercilious and overbearing* 
These glorify the principles of the English const!- 
tution, while they condemn the conduct of mini- 
sters, and lament the general corruption of the times. 
Such men may inquire perhaps, why I do nof^ 
instead of constructing an original commonwealth, 
devote myself to praise the genuine institutions 
of Great Britain, and task my ingenuity to invent 
means, by which they may be separated from their 
spurious additions. Suppose my admiration of the 
English laws and policy as rapturous and unbounded 
as the eulogiums of a late ministry professed theirs 
to be, what could I hope to effect by submitting a 
plan for national reform to the public, when the same 
ministry entirely failed in a similar undertaking ? 

Whether Machiavel were light or not, when 
he affirmed, that a constitution to be preserved 
should frequently be reduced to it's principles, I 
shall not now inquire : but it seems certain, that, 
if there be no efforts to correct errours as they arise, 
the whole must fatally and irretrievably decline. 



4 Preliminary Discourse, 

" Time/' says Bacon ^, " is the greatest innovator : 
and if time of course alter things to the worse, and 
wisdom and counsel may not alter them to the 
better, what must be the end ?" 

This opinion was professed equally in ancient 
and in modern times. Socrates^ affirmed, that, if 
the Athenians knew and pursued the institutions of 
their ancestry, they should rival their reputation : 
and Isocrates^ could devise no measure, which 
might counteract the dangers that threatened his 
country, except the restoration of the democracy 
established by Solon. 

These observations apply to the present situation 
of the English laws and constitution in various 
ways. Consider the British senate. Now any 
man, in any situation, may be raised by the king 
to the peerage : but this was not formerly the case ; 
the right of nobility was originally territoriar, nor 
were the titles of dukes, marquises, and earls 
conferred as at present. " Our ancestors,'* says 
Blackstone, " never separated dignities from duties : 
titles then distinguished officers of the state." 
Beside this, peers' of superiour rank had a barony 

' Essay 24. 

*Xenophon, Memor. lib. 3, p. 769, Opera Omnia. Edit^ 
Francofurti always used. 

' Areopagitica, Opera, p. 245 , Edit. Cantabrigiae always used, 
* Black-stone's Commentaries^ vol.1, p. ^9. 
Mb\d. p. 330. 



rreliminary Discourse, 5 

annexed to their titles, that their property might 
suit their other appointments ; and, in conformity to 
this principle, George Nevil, duke of Bedford, 
was deprived of his nobility in Edward the Fourth's 
reign on account of his indigence. Now any man 
may be made. a peer : no qualification from fortune 
or office is necessary : peers may be created by 
scores, as they have been by dozens : may I not 
then ask, Does not this branch of the constitution 
demand reformation ? 

Look to the other branch of the legislature. 
We are told, it is the principle of the British con* 
stitution, that the house of commons should repre- 
sent the people. Does it so ? Many, who sit in it, 
are elected by the nobility, a practice directly hostile 
to the constitution ; for so early as Edward the 
Second, even the earnest requests or solicitations of 
a great man are deemed unlawful in procuring 
votes for candidates to represent the people in par- 
liament ; and it has since been frequently adjudged ^ 
that a peer, who concerns himself in the election 
of a member to parliament, infringes the liberty of 
the commons. How inimical then must be their 
absolute nomination of men, through the medium of 
boroughs, to that preeminence ! 

The house of commons has not a semblance of 
being the representative of the peopleu How many 

^ Comyns's Digest, p. igo. 



6 Freliminary Discourse. 

members are sent to parliament by individuals, who 
have the dominion of boroughs, as masters send 
servants on their errands ! How many purchase 
their seats from certain brokers of representation ! 
In short, what proportion do the representatives 
from counties and free towns bear to the members 
from such boroughs ? In no way can the house of 
commons have any pretensions to be esteemed the 
representative of the British people. If it be con- 
sidered as chiefly formed of men elected by the 
influence of lords, and a few" commoners like lords, 
this house is an appendage to the aristocracy : if it 
be considered as chiefly composed of men who pur- 
chase their election, it is oligarchical, and Aristotle^ 
justly gives the prerogative of wealth in the govern- 
ment of the state this characteristic. 

I affirm therefore, if it be a principle of the 
British constitution, that the house of commons 
should represent the people, that the constitution is 
vitally impaired ; and, if the constitution be, as it is 
reported by many, a prodigy of human wisdom, 
that it should be reformed. Whether the effectual 
authority of the state rest in the crown, or be di- 
vided between it and the aristocracy, regarding 
either present circumstances or ultimate effects, is 
unimportant ; for, according to the universal ex- 
perience of mankind, the v/hole political power 

^ De Republica, lib. 4, c. 4. 



Preliminary Discourse.^ t 

will eventually be absorbed by the prerogative of 
the king. 

Wo to that nation, which admits the popular 
branch of it's constitution to be disgraced! When 
Sparta designed, that Athens should rise no more 
to thwart her ambition^, she endeavoured to impair 
her republican government. The Athenians, press- 
ed by a victorious enemy, and urged by an as- 
surance from Alcibiades^, that an alteration in their 
laws would ensure the friendship of Darius, who 
was then leagued with the Lacedaemonians against 
them, substituted an oligarchy for their republic. 
What was the consequence ? The new government, 
built comparatively on narrow foundations, grew 
narrower and narrower ; from four hundred it was 
contracted to thirty, from thirty to ten*; and it had 
soon shrunk into a monarchy, as had formerly been 
the doom of that famous city, had not Thrasybulus, 
by overthrowing the oligarchy, rivalled the che- 
rished names of Harmodius and Aristogiton. 

Some men are so duped by the prosperity of 
England, and so alive to all the dangers, which 
may possibly arise from any attempt to redress in- 
veterate evils, or to correct and resist growing cor- 
ruptions, as, agitated between irritability and terrour, 
actually to affirm, that no accumulation of vices, 

'Justin, lib. 5^ c. 3. 

*Isocrates adv. Callimaclium, Opera, p. 558. Justin, lib, 8, 
cap. 10. 



S Preliminary Discourse. 

no complication of disorders, can defeat it*s freedom* 
But what has happened to other states will pro- 
bably happen to this. Liberty was as anxiously 
upheld in Sparta, and Athens, and Rome, as in 
England : yet Sparta bowed to Cleomenes' ; Athens 
suffered the Pisistratids ; Rome fell before Marius, 
Sylla, Cassar, and the emperors. England has still 
more affecting examples of lost liberty. She may 
regard the downfall of surrounding nations, whose 
constitutions were once more analogous to her own 
than those which flourished in ancient times : for 
Temple^ rightly observes, that the form of govern- 
ment in the Low Countries, in England, and in all 
countries possessed by the northern conquerors, is 
a middle state between the tyranny of the Eastern 
kingdoms and the Greciaji and Roman common- 
wealths. That those neighbouring nations were once 
as free as England, I shall indisputably evince : And 
first of Sweden. 

The diets^ of Sweden were composed of the 
grandees^ the principal clergy, the deputies from 
cities, and the deputies from the peasantry, who 
formed the most powerful body^ of those assem- 
blies. The king was elective'. He was amenable 

»Livius, lib. 34, c, 26. 

2 Observations on the United Provinces, c. 1, p. 69. 
^Vertot, Revolution de Suede, year 1282. 
*They acted a memorable part in the estates assembled in 
1527, Ibid. Mbid. year 1350. 



Preliminary Discourse* 9 

to the laws, and might be deposed for maleadmini- 
stration. He could neither make peace nor war, 
nor could he levy money or soldiers, without the 
consent of the states ; or of the senate, when the 
states were not convened. The same system of 
government was established in Norway ^, and Denj- 
mark". 

Concerning the German states Piitter^ says, that 
the princes, counts, barons, and freeholders had 
consummate authority in their several constitutions ; 
that, so early as the year 860, when the pactum 
confluentium was enacted, the Frankish kings gua- 
rantied to the people their rights and dignities, and 
stipulated, that they would consult them on all 
important concerns, and esteem their cooperation 
necessary to accomplish all matters of national con- 
sequence. 

Nor were the nations of Spain less free than 
these. The kingdoms of Castile, Arragon, and 
Catalonia, were elective* ; and the cortes, or na- 
tional assemblies, directed them with supreme 
authority. In 1462 the Catalans took arms against 
John the Second* ; and, revoking their allegiance, 
they declared, that he and his posterity had forr 

' * * Vertot, Revolution de Suede, year 139Q. 
'Political Constitutions of Germany, b. 1, c. 7. 
*Fuero Jaygo Ley. 2, 5, 8. 
'Zurita, Anales de Aragon, t. 4, p. 113, 



10 Preliminary Discourse^ 

felted the throne: and in 1465 the Castilians ac- 
cused, tried, and condemned Henry the Fourth \ 
The people of Arragon were even more predomi- 
nant in the administration of the state. They enjoyed 
by the laiion constitutionally a right to depose the 
king, if he neglected to redress any violations of 
the laws committed either by himself or his mini- 
sters. Their mode of proceeding on this occasion 
was specified. The king's obstinacy being notori- 
0US9 the nobles, knights, and deputies from cities 
first mutually bound themselves by oaths and hos- 
tages ; and then, ha\ang withdravi^n their allegiance, 
they vi^ere privileged to elect another king. This 
right they exercised in 1287, and in 1347, against 
Alfonza the Third \ and Peter the Fourth % by 
deposing them, and substituting others in their 
room. 

The people of Arragon had also a magistrate 
called the justiza, not less celebrated than the tri- 
bunes of Rome, or the ephori of Sparta. Even 
when the union was abolished the authority of the 
justiza was in some measure increased ; for, in- 
stead of being removable at pleasure, his office was 
conferred for life. The cortes likewise at this time, 
had extensive power. Without their consent no 
tax could be imposed, no war declared, no peace 

* Mariana, lib. 23, c. 9. 

-Zurita, Anales, t. 1, p. 322. ^l\iA. t, 2, p. 202. 



Preliminary Discourse, Jl 

ratified. Money was coined by their permission ; 
and Mariana' says, that they had supreme power 
to settle or alter the constitution. 

The cortes were composed of the nobles, pre« 
lates, and commons. The commons included de- 
puties from cities ; for Mariana^ mentions, that, in a' 
cortes held in 1349, there were present deputies 
from eighteen cities, which had enjoyed that privi- 
lege by immemorial usage, beside many deputies 
from towns, which had lately been advanced to 
that dignity. The proceedings of this assembly of 
the cortes are related by the Spanish historian. 
They voted the supplies : and the king's speech in 
consequence exactly corresponds to the address, 
which the king of England now makes to the British 
parliament on similar occasions\ Such was the 
power of this assembly in the sixteenth century. 
Perhaps after what I have said it is unnecessary to 
observe, that, by authorizing the crown* in the 
same period to officer a body of troops, which they 
had raised for the public service in Italy, it is ob- 
vious, that the sword of the state sdll rested in their 
hands ; otherwise their military arrangement would 
not have been granted to the king by their special 
direction. 

If we regard the annals of France, a distant 
, prospect of liberty will gratify our view. In this 

Mib. 15, c. 6. Mib. IQ, c. 7. Mib. 10, c. 1. 

^Zurita, t. 5, p. 274. 



1? Preliminary Discourse, 

Ik 
country the general assemblies were held once or 

twice a year, in March or May,, and thence called 
champs de mars^ chajnps de mai. They who 
constituted them so early as 788 were the principal 
clergy^, the chief ministers, leaders, governors of 
districts, citizens, and burghers. That the people 
were constituent parts of these assemblies there can 
be little' doubt, as fields (champs^ were appointed 
for the convention, on account of the numbers who 
were privileged to participate in their decisions. 

If the people were not parties, it must be con- 
cluded, either that the nobles and bishops were 
multitudinous, or that the houses in that age were 
all narrow and confined. But it is rendered un- 
questionable^ that the people, almost in the vulgar 
acceptation of this term, voted on those occasions. 
Hincman* reports, that in bad weather, when the 
members of the general assembly could not meet 
abroad, they were divided into chambers; and that 
the dignified clergy and nobles were separated from 
the remaining muldtude (a csetera muldtudine se- 
gregarentur) : and Agobardus, another archbishop, 
who wrote also in the ninth century, in describing 
a general assembly which he attended, after having 
mentioned, that bishops, abbots, and chief men 

^ Pontifices, majores minores sacerdotes, reguli, duces, co- 
mites, praefecti, cives oppidanL Sorberus de Comitiis ret. 
German, t. 1, s. 304. 

*Opera, Edit. Sirmondi, t. 1, c. 35." 



Prelim'niary Discourse. IS 

were present, adds promlscuseque setatis dignitatis 
populo. 

These assemblies^ sanctioned all resolutions, that 
concerned the external and internal policy of the 
state. They elected the kings'' during the first two 
dynasties. They declared war and peace, formed 
alliances, conferred employments, nominated the 
judges, settled the expenditure and the revenues of 
the nation, enacted laws, redressed grievances, and 
constituted the court of final appeal. 

The national assembly about the beginning of 
the fourteenth century changed it's title to that of 
the States General ; and with the alteration of it*s 
name it lost much of that power, which it formerly 
enjoyed under the first and second dynasties of it's 
kings. It now merely possessed a privilege to advise 
or remonstrate ; it's legislative preeminence was 
gradually usurped by the crown ; and Charles the 
Seventh % who was the first king of France that 
established a standing army, was the first monarch 
of France who raised by his own decree, without 
consent of the state, subsidies on the people. 

From the first encroachment on the liberties of 
the nation, the progress of tyranny was decided. 
The states general, though from their numbers and 

' BoulainviUiers, Ancient Parliaments of France, 2d Letter. 
*Hottoman, Francogallia, c. 6, p. 4/. 
' Philippe de Comines^ liv, 6, c. 7. 



34 Preliminary Discourse. 

popular disposition, for one held in 1355 consisted 
of eight hundred members, half of whom were 
deputies from towns \ were but a shadow of the 
national assemblies that preceded them : and their 
power continued to decline, till in 1614"^ they 
ceased to be assembled. 

The next substitute for the national assemblies 
were the parliaments, a shadow of a shade, which, 
from being treated with obloquy and violence, fi- 
nally became entirely debased by Richelieu and 
Mazarin^ Thus errours and vices accumulated in 
the state, enormities continually arose, and these 
enormities became daily more odious by their in- 
veteracy. Thus political affairs rapidly advanced to 
such a desperate extreme, that the government of 
France stood like a vast pile distracted and over- 
hanging it's foundations, so momentous yet so cala- 
mitous, that no wise man, however benevolent, 
durst approach it w^ith assistance, lest he should be 
buried in it's ruins* It fell : whether absolutely by 
it's own decay, or whether it's fall were hastened by 
the feeble attempts, that w'ere employed to suspend 
it's fate, it fell, overwhelming kings^ nobles, hie- 
rarchy, fanatics, and philosophers, the enemies of 

* M. Secousse, Pref. a Ordon. t. 3, p. 48. 

* Whitelock says, that they were assembled for the last time 
in 1561 : — On Parliaments, c, 72. 

^ Memoires de C, de Retz, t. 1, p, I9. 



Preliminary Discourse, 15 

freedom, and the friends of liberty, with universal 
perdition a dreadful example of the effects of re- 
formation delayed till reformation became ineffectual. 

I have now shown, that many nations, possess- 
ing similar constitutions, were once not less but 
more free than Britain. I need not inform the 
reader, that they are now enslaved : and why have 
they fallen, while England still confronts her danger? 
They did not reform their vices, till they were in- 
extricably involved with the texture of the state : 
and must not the same consequences overtake the 
British people, if the legislature persist in retarding 
,the day of reformation ? for, beside many great 
corruptions, that regarding the representation of the 
people in parliament is so mortal in it's effects, that, 
if not corrected promptly, the constitution must 
not only in effect, but without pretence or subter- 
fuge, sink into a mere monarchy. 

Reform, or you perish suicides^ the victims of 
your own crimes. England, though not erect, is 
not prostrate; and while Sweden, Denmark, the 
states of Germany and Italy, Spain and France, 
are enthralled, she has preserved herself from sub- 
jection, by the successive and magnanimous en- 
deavours of her people to withstand the tyranny 
of kings and ministers, and by their insuperable 
fortitude in forcing these to retract their encroach- 
ments. What had England been without Magna 



16 Prejminary Discourse, 

Charta a thousand times confirmed ? What without 
the Petition of Right in Charles the First's reign ? 
What without the bravery of Hamden, whoy 
though a single citizen, resisted the rapacious pre- 
rogative of the Crown ? What without the Bill of 
Rights, the Habeas Corpus, the Condemnation of 
General Warrants ? She would have been as Spain, 
as Sv/eden, as Norway : — nay perhaps she had been 
a province to France, the slave of an enslaved 
people. 

This might have been the fate of Great Britain, 
had she been as remiss as the neighbouring nations 
in the administration of her affairs. But what 
might she have been, had she pursued that auspi- 
cious vote of her house of commons, " that the in- 
fluence of the crown had increased, was increasing, 
and ought to be diminished ?" She had been sacred 
and inviolable. Abroad, she had shone forth a 
luminary amidst the obscured nations of Europe, to 
enlighten and direct them; at home, instead of 
having her people exasperated and deceived by the 
enemies of God and man, instead of having them 
react against each other the enmities and persecu- 
tion of the Jews in similar circumstances when a 
victorious enemy threatened the being of the state, 
cordiality and friendship had blessed the land. 

Need I say, that I refer to an attempt in a late 
parliament to free the Catholics from that law. 



Prdiminari^ Discourse. 17 

Vfhich prohibits them from attaining eminence in 
either army or navy, and the consequences of that 
defeated effort to it's promoters ? It is three centuries 
since slavery has ceased in England ; and it was 
abolished in the colonies by the men, who in the 
same session would have redeemed the Catholics 
from disgrace. It is also a theme of never ending 
execration, that slavery was established in Sparta 
and Athens ; yet were the slaves who fought for 
those nations rewarded with the full rights of citi- 
zenship for their military service, while v/e, the 
overweening eulogists of our own religion and con- 
stitution, hold freemen and fellow-citizens, who 
fight our battles, in a state of degradation unfelt 
by the barbarous slaves of Athens and Lacedsemon. 
In reprobating the corruptness of the parliamen- 
tary representation in the house of commons, and 
the depravity that influences the royal prerogative 
in the appointment of members to the senate, I 
speak not of unknown evils. Many statesmen 
have observed them, and some have proposed re- 
medies to qualify or correct the abuse. Some, ob- 
serving that the peerage w^as prostituted in the 
most flagrant manner, and particularly by the crea- 
tion of twelve peers together at the beginning of the 
last century, in order to secure at all events a ma- 
jority to ministers^ proposed _to^ parliament in 1719 
a bill to restrain the prerogative in raising coav 

VOL. i» G 



'13 Frehminari/ Discourse. 

moiiers to the rank of nobility.. " It was thought/* 
says Blackstone', " that this' would be a great 
acquisition to the constitution, by restraining the 
king or his favourites from gaining an ascendancy 
in the lords by an unlimited creation of peers at 
pleasure. It passed the lords, but was rejected in 
the commons by a great m.ajority, who wished to 
keep the upper house open to their ambition — and 
thus ended all expectations of reform in this branch 
of the legislature/' 

With regard to the commons in parliament, 
many schemes have been suggested by ingenious 
men, and some have been actually proposed in 
the legislature for it's adoption. I shall carry my 
inquiries no higher than the year 1734, when Mr. 
Bromley moved for the repeal of the septennial bill, 
and for the more frequent meeting and calling of 
parliaments. The same was often urged in suc- 
ceeding years, particularly by Sir John Glyn^ in 
1758, and by Lord Chatham, v/ho enforced the 
justice and policy of abridging the duration of 
parliaments, and of infusing a fresh portion of 
vigour into the constitution by increasing the repre- 
sentatives from counties, and by diminishing those 
from boroughs, leaving the rotten boroughs to drop 
off by the imperceptible operation of time. 

^ Comment, vol. 1, p. 157. 
.• ,. *Chfc;.turiield'sLetters,.VGl. 4, letter 106. • 



Preliminary Discourse, 19 

Let me observe, that this proposition coincided 
with the ancient constitution of the state. " As 
towns increased," says Blackstone% " in trade and 
population, they were summoned to parliament ; 
ana as others decHned, they were omitted ; but in 
latter times the deserted have been summoned, 
while those have been omitted, whose increased 
riches and consequence entitled them to that distinc- 
tion.'* Nor has any measure been taken^ to correct 
this departure from the principles and practice of 
former ages, except by Cromwell, who in 1654 
accommodated present circumstances to ancient in- 
stitutions. "Rethought," says Clarendon'', "he 
took a more equal way by appointing, that more 
knights should be chosen for every shire, and fewer 
burgesses, which was generally looked upon as an 
alteration fit to be more warrantably made, and in 
a better time." Is it not insufferable, that the 
reformation, which Cromwell actually performed, 
was not only repealed at the Restoration, but still 
remains so ? Compare then the political conduct of 
your constitutional kings, and your unconstitutional 
protector, and glorify the blessings of an heredi- 
tary crown. Compare the justice of the usurper, 
and the injustice, antecedent and posteriour to his 
despotism, of kings, lords, and commons, and 
blush for the lawful constitution of your state. 

* Comment, vol. \, p. 172. ^History, &c. b. 14^ p. 287. 
C 2 



« 



20 Preliminary Discourse, 

The late William Pitt in 1782, when in opposi- 
tion, moved fur a parliamentary reform ; and in 
1785, when chancellor of the exchequer, he re- 
newed his motion, and submitted a specific plan 
to this effect. He proposed, that thirty-six bo- 
roughs, which had decayed, should be purchased 
from the proprietors ; and that, if any of them did 
not accept the price offered, it should be laid out at 
compound interest, until, to use his own words, it 
became irresistible. The boroughs which were to be 
bought he would have had ascertained by their com- 
parative depopulation ; and the deficiency of mem- 
bers to the commons, in consequence of so many 
boroughs being disfranchised, he w^ould have had 
supplied by additional members from the m.ore 
opulent districts and the metropolis. He also pro- 
posed, to increase the constituent body by admitting 
copyholders to the elective franchise ; by which he 
in some measure obviated an objection made to his 
father's plan of reform — that it would increase the 
existing disparity betvv^een the freeholders who were 
already represented, and those who were not le- 
gally entitled to vote for members to parliament. 
This, I need not observe, was not adopted. 

In 1790 Henry Flood, another eminent man, in- 
troduced a diiTercnt mode of reform. He pro- 
posed, that one hundred members should be added 
to the representation, v.' ho were to be elected by 



TreUminary Discourse. 21 

resident freeholders In each parish of each county 
on the same day ; by this the representation would 
have been considerably increased, and four hundred 
thousand, according to Flood's computation, added 
to the body of popular electors. 

Some years afterward Mr. Grey moved for a 
parliamentary reform, and he was seconded by the 
zeal and eloquence of Charles Fox. Like all the 
rest, this was also rejected. Then why should I, 
though I were persuaded, that the British consti- 
tution, is as perfect as it's unmeaning devotees pro- 
claim, propose a scheme for it's reformation ? Is it 
conceivable, that I, unsupported and alone, could 
effect what country gentlemen and merchants, citi- 
zens and lawyers, ministers and politicians, who 
never agreed on any other measure during the 
course of their political lives, united to effect, yet 
failed by their combined and reiterated efforts ti 
accomplish or advance ? My vanity is not so ex- 
travagant. 

Yet are all these capital f:iilures of great names 
and powerful advocates unimportant comparatively 
to some late transactions, which must everlastingly 
obtrude on all generous minds. Would it not be 
worse than idling in me, to write on the reform of 
parliament, when a few years ago a whole admini- 
stration, headed -by William Pitt, the moi-t absolute 
minister that ever held the reins of the EriL'sh ro- 



22 Preliminary Discourse* 

vemment, was obliged to resign their situation, 
because they could not consistently with their of- 
ficial obedience forward a measure for the relief of 
the Irish Catholics, which they had promised that 
body to accomplish in their negotiations with them 
concerning the union between England and Ireland^ 
and which they considered essential to the interests 
of the emoire ? 

Yet this extraordinary business was but a prelude 
to one much more extraordinary. In 1 807 another 
administration, which was firmly established, which 
had brought public defaulters to trial, which had 
swept away many sinecure places, which had 
abolished the trade of slavery in the colonies, was 
dismissed, because, in pursuing the principles which 
■dictated that abohtion, it proposed, in a crisis of 
great domestic peril and dismay, to invigorate the 
empire by admitting one fourth of it's whole po- 
pulation within the pale of it's laws, and thus 
unequivocally interest them in it's power and in- 
dependence. 

It might be supposed, that the boon which they 
proposed conferring on the Irish Catholics was sub- 
versive of the ancient constitution, and enormous 
and unprecedented in the annals of society. What 
was the specific benefaction proposed by ministers ? 
Positively nothing : in effect it merely enlarged the 
prerogative of the crown, it merely enabled the, 



Prelimindry • • Discourse. 2 3 

king to raise certain persons to a particular rank 
in the army and navy, that are now excluded : yet 
for proposing this measure, which v/ould have in- 
stantly facilitated the levy of troops in Ireland, and 
added to the energy and importance of the nation, 
this administration — —no not for proposing this 
measure, which only enlarged the royal prerogative, 
but because they would not bind themselves never 
to propose to the king any measure for the benefit 
of the Catholics, for they had abandoned this^ find- 
ing the prejudice against it insuperable, — this admini- 
stration was dismissed. Because they would not 
enrol themselves the slaves of a miserable priest- 
hood, and of their honourable and dishonourable 
friends ; because they would not sacrifice for ever 
their own character, the interests of the nation, and 
the cause of justice and humanity, to vulgar fana- 
tics and a factious hierarchy ; they were dismissed, 
and a hue and cry raised against them by persons 
of education and fortune, which would have dis- 
graced the populace, had they treated the most- 
odious malefactors in the darkest ages with the 
same scurrility and clamour. Surely it would be 
worse than madness in me, to propose any scheme^ 
for political reform, when this slight approach to: 
liberality and amendment had so miraculous and so 
tragical a catastrophe. 

Such events, though coupled with the canting of 



24i Prelirainary Di^^'wr^e. 

ministers and minions concerning rlie liappine^, 
which all men subjected to the British empire ex- 
clusively enjoy, and their pompous encomiums on 
the super excellence of the British constitution, force 
even the most credulous to question such overbear- 
ing and insulting pretensions. Such panegyrics 
have been adopted from ministers by the senate, 
thence they have passed to corporations civil and 
ecclesiastical, and after them they have been echoed, 
through the land. Thus, as men by frequently re- 
peating lies become at last proselytes to their own 
falsehood, many Englishmen, by dint of praising 
their laws and policy, have wrought themselves into 
such admiration of both, that they seem absorbed 
in self-contemplation, and to consider their political 
code as altogether divine. 

I speak not without authorities : — take the follow- 
ing specimen from Plowden's Jura Anglorum^ '' The 
brilliant and stupendous work of human economy, 
the blessed and glorious constitution of the British 
empire, &c.'' This seems a violation of common 
sense sufficiently audacious, — by no means, — this 
supporter of Burke's Reflections on the French Re- 
volution employs it as the first gradation of a climax, 
for he adds, that the great chancellor *Fortescue 
entertained so sublime an idea of it, that he agreed 
with Saint Thomas, who said, " with such a law 

Vp. 3. 



Prelimina?y Discourse, 25 

all mankind would have been governed, if in Pa- 
radise they had not transgressed the law of God/' 
After the sanction of St. Thomas, who dares not 
subscribe to the arrogant pretensions of the Eng- 
lish concerning their constitution •? But there is a 
man, who spoke on the same subject in a little less 
inspired strain than the angelical doctor, Thomas 
Aquinas, I mean Montesquieu ; for which Burke \ 
who triumphs aver all saints aad prophets, in the 
plenitude of his zeal likens Mm to the umi^r&al 
patriarch in Milton. 

Is it by this rhodomontade, that investigating 
minds are to be converted to the new creed ? or 
does not this affected enthusiasm betray the con- 
scious weakness of such advocates in the reasonable- 
ness of their cause, and that, like other religious 
itnpostors, they appeal to the vulgar to testify for 
them ? Are we even to imagine, that, because mul- 
titudes have larded the English constitution with 
hyperbolical praise, it must possess unqualiiied 
merit ? Indefinite admiration for their native land is 
common to the barbarous and the civilized ; but it 
is generally most extreme with those, whose under- 
standings have been least cultivated by reading, 
observation, and travelhng. Many nations have 
deemed their constitution so faukless, that to im- 
prove it was presumptuous and impracticable. Eii- 

* Appeal from the New to the Old Whigs, p. 140. 



^6 Preliminary Discourse, 

glishmen are not therefore to fancy, that, because 
they hear the British constitution blazoned in the se- 
nate, sung in the choir, and proclaimed at court, 
it is the same phaenomenon in the political world as 
Jupirer was in the mythological, who never beheld' 
any thing corresponding to his excellence, or ap- 
preaching his perfection '. 

How unlimited was the admiration of France, 
and of many foreigners, who possessed ingenuity and 
learning, on the publication of that transitory and 
abortive form of government established by the 
constituent assembly of that nation ! How raptu- 
rously have the Venetians praised their aristocracy;: 
and viith. what, animation have many intelligent 
writers, strangers to Venice, exhausted their elo- 
quence in it's praise ! Harrington, our countryman, 
modelled- his Oceana on it ; and the Venetian go- 
vernment is the perpetual theme of his comm.enda^ 
tion. Men of all nations have applauded it's wis- 
dom : Germans, Italians, French.- V/hat are 

Desdier's'' words ? " The republic is desirous of 
preserving in the external order of government a 
perfect appearance of monarchy, aristocracy, and 
democracy ; and hath effectually found the way of 
enjoying all the real advantages of these three dif- 

'Nee viget qulcquam simile, aut secundum. — Horatius^ 
©de 12, lib. 1. 
• Republic of Venice, part 2, p. 43, Eng. version. 



Freliminary Discourse. 2T 

ferent forms of government :" and again\ he calls 
it " the perfectest government, that ever was." 

Turn your attention to Arragon. The citizens 
of that state were so enamoured of their constitu- 
tion, that, in a preamble to one of their laws, they 
declare, that they would abandon their unproduc- 
tive country, if it were not for the liberties, by 
which they were distinguished from all nations^ So 
far from the English being peculiar in their preju- 
dices for their own constitution, the predilection of 
men for their own lav/s is so obvious and so gene- 
ral, that it indueed Herodotus^ to observe, that he 
was persuaded, that, if every nation were privi- 
leged to choose from all codes the best laws, al} 
would universally prefer their own. 

From the modern go to the ancient states. Need 
I make a summary of those writers, who have cele- 
brated the Roman republic ? Poly bins, who could 
not have been prejudiced in it's favour by his edu- 
cation, has, in the beginning of the sixth book of 
his History, enlarged on it's virtues, and attributed 
to it the advantages enjoyed by the three simple 
forms of government, monarchy, aristocracy, and 
democracy, 

^ Republic of Venice, part 2, p. 13, Eng. version. 

^Hier. Blanca Commeiii:. p. 751. 

^lib. 3, c. 38. Pla o also says, that all men reverence their 
laws, and dread to make any innova ion in .hose under which 
they have been educated. De Legib. \\b. 7, p. 886. 

3 



2S Preliminary Discourse, 

The same fond admiration is expressed by the 
Greeks for the constitutions of their respective 
states. Isocrates ^ mentions, that the Athenians re- 
commended their polity for the imitation of ail 
nations : and Demosthenes^ ai85rms it to have been 
so famous, that various people substituted it for their 
own. 

Regard also the Lacedemonians ^ This nation 
esteemed it's commonvt^ealth incomparably superiotir 
to ail other governments, that ever existed. It has 
besides been hailed with enthusiastic praise through 
all ages. If then we compare the applause and ad- 
miration lavished on the constitutions of Rome, and 

»De Pace, p. 282, Opera, Wolfii Edit. 

*Adver.Timocrat. p. 805. 

* Isocrates, Archidamas, p. 222. There is no end to the com- 
mendations of the ditferent cons itations, which have been 
established among men. The Cretan laws, says Plato, were 
approved by all the Greeks, Kpr^rwv vofj.oi ovk bic^i iji.0f.rrjv 
^ia,(pspov'ru)s sv 'jra.(riv svSoKiy.oi rois ^EXAr^criy. His reason for 
their approbation is, that they render those happy, who ase 
them. De Legib. lib. I, p. 'JJ3. The Egyptians also thought, 
that their laws were the best ; and this they conceived was In- 
disputably proved by the length of their duration. Diodorus 
Siculus, who relates this circumstance, esteems their laws 
admirable, praises their inheritable professions, &c. Lib. 1. 
And Plato is also free in his applause of their institutions. De 
Legib. lib. 2, p. Jgo : lib. 7, p. 886. The Jews attributed 
their laws to the special providence of God. '' And unto this 
people, whom thoulovedst, thou gavest a law approved by all." 
2 Edras, c. 5. The same has been overweeningly imagined 
by many nations. 



Preliminary Discourse. 29 

Athens, and Laced semon, by natives and foreigners, 
and in ancient and modern times, they may, so far 
as merit is determined by panegyrics, fairly contend 
with the British for superiority. Nor had these 
nations less jealousy than Britons for the reputation 
of their respective laws. The Athenians suffered 
any favourable expressions concerning other codes 
with great uneasiness; and the Lacedaemonians* 
prohibited them by penal decrees. The English, it 
is true, have no statute to this effect ; nor have they, 
as the Thebans, who fined Pindar^ for a verse in 
praise of the Athenians, judicially recorded their 
resentment for such offences against their vanity : 
but there is so much self-sufEciency, and prejudice, 
and passion in England, independent of those who 
are interested in the imperfection of the laws and 
the vices of their administration, that he, who shall 
express his sentiments unequivocally on both, as 
the opportunity affords, or as the case requires, 
challenges dangers not less pernicious, than if he 
transgressed the penal code, and had been con- 
victed of it's infraction. 

We have lately heard so much of our glorious 
constitution in church and state, so everlastingly 

* Demosth. adv. Leptincm, p. 556. 

*Eschines, in his fourth epistle, p. 207. Demosth. Opera^ 
Wolfii Editio (always used), relates, that the Athenians voted 
him double the sum that he was fined, and also raised a statwe> 
to his memory. 



30 Preliminary Discourse, 

has this been the parade of all ministerial speec^e^j, 
that the nauseous adulation, without animadverting 
to the manifold and flagrant evils authorized by it, 
has disgusted even some of the most submissive of 
it's votaries. The praises of the British constitution 
by the noblemen and gentlemen employed in it's ad- 
ministration have a strong coincidence v/ith those 
made by the prelates and cardinals of the church 
of Rome, when Rome was the centre of profligacy 
and intrigue. 

How have these ministerial rhapsodists shown a 
conviction of the truth of their own panegyrics ? They 
commenced a war avowedly lest the sentiments of re- 
volutionary France should transgress the shores of 
Britain and Ireland^ and be favourably entertained 
by their inhabitants. Did this manifest a proud 
confidence in the unspeakable virtues of their con- 
stitution ? They drew round it troops of militia, of 
regulars, of sea fencibles, of yeomanry, beside an 
immense naval force, in concentric circles, lest po- 
pular opinions from pestilential places might infect 
the land. How many laws were enacted against 
debating societies, and public lecturers, and public 
assemblies ! Yet while ail these engines were in 
action to preserve our glorious constitution in church 
and state, the war was prosecuted against France, 
in order to force a monarchy on that nation. For 
the ministry and their miniop.s conceived, that nei- 
ther their own adulatory speeches, nor the responses 



Preliminary Discourse, Si 

of their hireling writers, nor their harassing authors 
who thought differently from them by persecutions 
for libels, nor their various proceedings against the 
liberty of the press, nor their preventing citizens 
from debating or hearing poUtical topics discussed, 
nor all their means to coerce and violate social in- 
tercourse, nor their naval and military myriads, 
could support church and state, if France were 
permitted to establish her republic. 

These were some of the notorious acts of those 
ministers, who made the ghostly effusion of Tho- 
mas i\quinas in favour of the British constitution 
the model of their panegyrics — men whose un- 
deviating conduct grossly belied their commenda- 
tions. They proclaimed it all -sufficient, while their 
measures and their laws recorded it's imbecility. 
Nor were their language and designs at less variance 
in other respects. Never in a much longer period 
were so many grievous crimes perpetrated against 
the liberty of the state, and the principles of the 
constitution. Their eulogiums on it's excellence 
generally preceded some attempt against it's honour. 
They treated the British constitution as libertines do 
the females they would debauch : they used their ad- 
miration of it's loveliness insidiously to effect it's 
ruin. 

Surely that is not a constitution of marvellous 
sanctity, which it's most strenuous advocates de- 
clared was in iinminent danger from such causes. 



52 Preliminary Dis course » 

Is it conceivable, that, if it possessed such radical 
merit, such immaculate purity, such vital energy, 
such essential excellence, such preeminent and im- 
perious virtue, at once a manifest and miraculous 
consummation both of man's wisdom and Grod's 
goodness, it should require such extraordinary and 
complicated means, to preserve it from being seized 
and sunk in the eddy of a foreign revolution ? To 
say so, is to pronounce the grossest falsehood. It 
implies, that the British people are more insensible 
than brutes ; for it infers, that they are not conscious 
of their unparalleled happiness ; or it intimates, that 
the British constitution is not that paragon, which 
baffles all praise and admiration, and which, in 
times past, present, and to come, in practice and 
peculation, must for ever triumph over all com- 
monwealths, imaginary or established. 

No doubt the English laws possess many wise 
and equitable provisions. But let me ask, on what 
general grounds are they presumed to be as wise 
and provident, as they are represented by their de- 
votees ? Be not shocked in tracing the descent of 
your ancestors and your laws. History first men- 
tions the painted Britons. Next appears, on their 
conquest, a provincial military government of Rome, 
when Rome was in the last stage of degeneracy. 
After the conquering Romans succeed the victorious 
Saxons. What was the character of this third race 
of political architects, who assisted in forming the 



Preliminary Discourse. SS 

British constitution ? They had no cities^, scarcely 
a habitation deserving the name of house^ and no 
money but pieces of the Roman coin. Without 
commerce or manufactures, and with little agricul- 
ture, they were illiterate, inimical to science'^, and 
limited in their enjoyments to gambling, drunken- 
ness^ hunting, and war. 

After these succeed in this eventful pedigree the 
piratical Danes, who conquered the Saxons, and in 
their turn were conquered by the freebooters of 
Normandy^. These were the founders of that stu- 
pendous fabric, the British constitution ; and these 
were assisted by the priesthood cf that age in rear- 
ing and cementing this modern Babel, 

Yet are we told by the commentator of the Eng- 
lish laws and constitution, who, compared to others, 
is but a moderate panegyrist of their merits, " that 
they are the perfection of reason ; that they al- 
ways intend to conform thereto; and that what i$ 
not reason is not law\" This theme he frequently 
resumes. But lest the doses of his zeal might nau- 
seate or distract the patient, he administers the fol- 
lowing opiate' : " whatever instances of contradic- 

^ Tacitus de Mor'ib. Germ. c. iQ. 
^Henry's Hist, of England, b. 2, c. 4. 
^Norman, according to Mariana, Hist, of Spain, lib. y, year 
844, means Man of the North. 
'*Blacksrone's Comment, vol. 1, p. 70. 
' Ibid, vol 3, p. 328. 
VOL. I. D 



34! Preliminary Discourse, 

tion or uncertainty may be gleaned from our records 
or reports must be imputed to the defects of human 
laws m general, and are not owing to any particular 
ill construction of the English system." Now what 
are the ingredients in this system ? 

First the Common Law, which Fortescue' with 
abundant affection insists is as old as the primitive 
Britons ; and which, according to him, has been 
preserved pure to us through the several conquests, 
revolutions, and changes of governments and 
people. In this opinion Selden in a great measure 
coincides. 

- It might occur to one not very apt to start objec- 
tions, to ask by what accident the common law of 
the painted Britons was so m.arvellously excellent, 
while the Brehon'^ law, that is the common law of 
the wild Irish, was so abominable; for we are in- 
formed, that it was abolished by Edward the First, 
as repugnant both to the laws of God and man'. 
This is not so difficult to be accounted for ; at least 
it is not uncommon for the same things to work a 
man's damnation in Ireland, which effect his sal- 
vation in the sister isle. But it seems very unac- 
countable, that the Apostolic vicar, Dr. Milner, 
who had so anxiously praised the learned lore of 

^ De I^ud. Leg. Anglias, c. 17. 

^ Spencer's State of Ireland. 

* Blackstoiie's Comment, vol, 1^ p. 100. 



Prelminari/ Discourse, 35 

the ancient Hibernians, and St. Patricks spiritual 
daughter St. Bridget, and all the saints, should not 
in the profusion of his kindness for Ireland have de- 
fended it's common law against the aspersions of 
the lawyers of England. This he might have done 
with perhaps neither less justice nor less entertain- 
ment. 

Filangieri' has observed, that the principles of 
legislation, like the principles of all our knowledge^ 
are derived from experience. He might have added, 
that the principles of legislation are the most im- 
portant, and least obvious, of all those which direct 
the hum.an understandings By what means could 
the Britons have collected facts and materials, and 
by what means could they have drawn sagacious 
conclusions from them, if they had been collected ? 
It is impossible^ that the common law, that is the 
oral and traditionary law, which grows up among 
individuals without letters, and incapable on many 
accounts of comparing the institutions among men, 
could deserve a general commendation for it's wis- 
dom ; though it might have answered the exigency 
of those barbarians, among whom it was practised. 

The second capital ingredient in the English code 
is the Feudal Law, that is the law between the con- 
querors and the conquered. I'his was carried to 
the utmost extent, and the extreme of rigour, soon 
' Delia Leglslazione, kc. Tntroduzionej p. 9. 
D 2 



36 Preliminary Discourse, 

after the invasion of the Normans. On their first 
success they seized great tracts of British property ; 
and afterward by rebellions, which they capriciously 
or purposely excited, they found opportunities to 
subject the whole territory to a feudal code. 

To the feudal law introduced by "William the 
conqueror, Fitzherbert attributes the origin of vil- 
lenage' ; and to it may be ascribed a no less mon- 
strous practice than hereditary slaves, hereditary 
legislators, and that most unnatural law of primo- 
geniture, which sacrifices the whole family to the 
eldest son. So entirely does this barbarous code of 
war and conquerors pervade every concern civil and 
political, that Blackstone^ seems to have thought, 
that, when he had traced an existing law to the feu- 
dal source, as in the exclusion of the half blood, he 
had immediately redeemed it from all apparent im- 
putation of anomaly and injustice. 

But what tended infinitely to increase the natural 
imperfections of the feudal law was the custom, 
which attended the practice and the administration 

* He says, **■ In mine opinion villenage began soon after the 
conquest, when the conqueror rewarded all those who came 
with him in his voyage royal, according to their deserts. And 
to honourable men he gavelordshippes, manors, landes, and tene- 
ments, with all the inhabitants, men, women, and children, 
dwelling on the same^ to do with them at pleasure, &c.'' Bar- 
rington on the Statutes, &c. p. 23 7> Dublin Edit. 

® Comment, vol. 2, p. 230. 



Preliminary Discourse, 37 

of this law. After the Norman usurpation the law- 
yers who presided on the bench, and who pleaded 
at the bar, were priests ^ There was an adage at 
this time, " No priest who is not pleader." No 
wonder then, that the lawyers of this period were 
esteemed most covetous and venal ; no wonder, 
that the utmost subtlety v;as introduced into legisla- 
tion and judicial decisions. It is said by Loisel\ 
that chicanery was introduced into the French law 
by the ecclesiastical advocates, who attended the 
Pope's court at Avignon. But beside the character 
of those depositaries of the law, who corrupt and 
confound all things, the canon law at this period 
was much cultivated, and a spurious system of 
Aristotle's logic and metaphysics was the only 
science, that attracted the inquisitive. 

The third constituent part of the English code is 
the Statute Law. In this it is no uncommon recital, 
" that doubts have arisen at common law," which 
Barrington^ says never did arise. According to 
this assertion, the statutes bear a lie on their face. 
Coke and Blackstone* treat them with unmerciful 

^Henry's Hist, of England, b. 3, c. 3, s, 1. At this period 
priest and lawyer were synonymous. *' Nullus clericus nisi 
causidicus/' says William of Malmsbury. 

^Loisel's words in his Dialogue are, '' C'est de la que nous avons 
appris la chicane." He might have carried his complaint to an 
elder age, but in attributing it to the clergy he was right. 

^On the Statutes, p. 300. * Comment. Introd. p. 10. 



S8 Preliminary Discourse. 

seventy. They say, " that ahnost all the niceties, 
and intricacies, and delays, which have disgraced 
the administration of justice, derive not their origi- 
nal from the common law itself, but from the in- 
novations introduced into it by the statute law. 
Coke also adds, " that the statutes are often on a 
sudden penned and corrected by men of very little 
judgment in law :" and it is customary even in the 
courts of law, which Barring ton' laments, to treat 
the statutes, particularly the more modern, as be- 
ing ill drawn and imperfectly considered. 

After mentioning these expressions and authori- 
ties, the value of the statute law may be esdmated 
without any additional remarks. Should the reader 
however be sdll incredulous, he may turn to the 
Statute Book itself. Let him look to the old and 
the new statutes, and let him decide, if he can, 
which to prefer for obscurity ^ I fear, that the rea- 
sonings of advocates on either side will scarcely 
enable his judicial abilities to determine this mo- 
mentous question. As to his apprehension on the 
whole, I am persuaded, that he will sympathize 
with Spelman's^ account of his own feelings on 

* On the Statutes, p. 93. 

^ Barringtoa is of opinion, that the new are more perspicuous 
than the old, p. 151. The general opinion contradicts his. 
The true question is, not which is most perspicuous, but which 
is least perplexed, 

* Preface to his Glossary. 



Freliminary Discourse, 59 

commeRcing his legal studies, and impute to them 
" a strange language, a barbarous jargon, a slovenly 
and uncouth method," in short, whatever is repul- 
sive to an improved taste and an enlightened mind. 
Could it be otherwise, when the political and civil 
code of Great Britain exhibits a heterogeneous as- 
semblage of the customs and instincts of untutored 
savages, of the wreck of the Roman provincial in- 
stitutions, of the impositions of priestcraft and cre- 
dulity, of the violations of liberty and property by 
the Saxon and Danish conquests, by the still greater 
subversion of both by the feudal law^ and by the 
confusions and corruptions introduced into all these 
already confounded particulars by priests, who 
pleaded causes, by priests who decided them, by 
priests who legislated^ by lay legislators who have 
shown in innumerable instances such ignorance of 
times, places^ persons, things, and reasons, (as in 
the course of the work I shall show to satiety,) that 
the sweeping of the meanest parish met in vestry 
could not now so egregiously offend against all prin- 
ciples of knowledge and common sense ? Yet 
Burke talks in theatrical terms of the English con- 
stitution being the contrivance of human wisdom. 
Except what is related of Alfred's institutions, 
which were soon dissipated, there is no record of 
any contrivance in it's structure. Even the legis- 
lature of the land arose in a great measure from 



40 Preliminary Discourse. 

violence ; and every subsequent effort towards re- 
form or amendment was so much the work of haste 
and disorder, that the happiest endeavours of it's 
people politically considered were merely to invent 
expedients, by which inherent defects might be qua- 
lifiedj or inveterate errours endured. To contri- 
vance and wisdom, to unity and design, the laws 
and constitution of Britain have not the remotest 
pretensions, 

By these observations I do not mean to condemn 
peculiarly the British constitution. I conceive, that 
all the governments generally speaking established 
among men, even the most celebrated, were emi- 
nently defective. A transient review of some of 
them will justify this assertion. 

Who founded the Roman commonwealth ? A 
bandittij who increased their numbers by runagate • 
slaves and traitors, and a general rape : and the 
leader of these criminals was the deified Romulus, 
who attained his godship by being assassinated for 

^Livius, lib. 1, c. 8. The origin of the Brattii, T Imagine, 
nearly corresponds with the commencement of the Roman state. 
Diodoras Siculus speaks of them as follows : *' In the 106th 
Olympiad m.any individuals, and particularly many fugitive 
slaves, collected in Lucania. At first they lived by robbery. 
Thence becomJng expert in the military art, they dared openly 
to light with tlie inhabitants of the country. Thus they be- 
came daily stronger and stronger, and, having seized city after 
city, they formed a regular republic." Lib. l6. 



Preliminary Discourse, 41 

his crimes. \¥ho enlarged the foundations of the 
constitution established by the first Romans ? The 
priest-king Numa, and his familiar, the nymph Ege- 
ria. The next legislator for this people was Appius, 
a man incapable from his vices of possessing talents 
for any wise or comprehensive undertaking. Yet 
the Twelve Tables^ the code framed by him and his 
associates, were considered by the Romans as the 
source of all their public and private laws^ 

Who were the founders of the Spartan republic ? 
Vagabond Dorians^ . Who the legislators? The 
fame of Lycurgus has so far eclipsed the reputation 
of all others in this department, that his name stands 
recorded as sole legislator of Sparta. There are 
few topics, on which men have spoken more wan- 
tonly than on Lycurgus, and the constitution attribut- 
ed to him. Rousseau^ says, that Lycurgus rejected 

^ Fons omnis publici et privati juris. — Livius^ lib. 3, c. 34. 

^Isocrates, Areopiigit. p. 243. 

'Ecarter les vieux materiaux pcur elever ensuite un bon 
edifice. De rOrigine, Sec. partie 2, t. 1, p. 154. Plato, who 
was as likely as most men to apply spurs to his fancy, admits 
no such extravagance. He says, in his Dialogue on Laws, 
lib. 4, p. 827, conversing with a Cretan and a Lacedaemonian, 
Ov^Eig TtOT'z ccvSpcvircxjv cv^sv voy.o^ersi, rv/oii^a Y.a.i ^•Jij.(popac 
iravT'oiaj ii'LTrrsa'ai. itavT'oious vofj^o^stsa-i 'Tol inxytCL rju.iv : — No 
man ever entirely established a code of laws, but manifold ca- 
sualties and circumstances in many ways imposed laws on man- 
kind. And in his Politicus, p. 557, he says, that established 
governments among men are only more or less grievous. 



42 Preliminary Discourse, 

the ancient materials, in order to raise a good edifice. 
How does this appear ? Plutarch has written the life 
of Lycurgus, and it seems to have been the first of 
his composition. In the sequel of this relation he 
affirms authoritatively many incongruous anecdotes 
concerning him and his actions, though in it's com- 
mencing lines he says, his researches do not permit 
him to speak with confidence concerning his birth, 
his life, or his end, and least of all concerning his 
laws and government. 

I conceive, it may be easily shown, that, if Ly- 
curgus legislated for Sparta, which I believe he did, 
he for the most part merely regulated or reformed 
what had been established before his administration. 
We first hear of the original Spartans issuing from 
obscure towns, and seizing the Peloponnesus. 
These, Isocrates^ observes, drove the plebeians from 
their society, and reduced them by a small assign- 
ment of barren lands to the most degraded state. 
They used them in the most hazardous situations to 
their unavoidable rain ; '• and at present," says 
Isocrates in another oration, " they are so miserably 
dependent, that the ephori may order them to death 
without judgment — -a cruelty not admitted at Athens 
to the lowest slaves." 

Here in the dawn of these people a feudal con- 
stitution appears, which directed their poHcy on all 

' Areopagit. p. 243. 



PreUmiiiary Discourse. 43 

occasions. Thus when they seized Heios, whether 
before the time of Lycurgus according to Plutarch^, 
or afterward according to Pausanias% they appro- 
priated the land, and reduced it's inhabitants to a 
state of vassalage. Thus they treated the Mes- 
senians on conquering their territory. Those, who 
desperately resisted at Ira, they reduced to the si- 
tuation of the Helotes^ ; while those, who were less 
obstinate assertors of their freedom, they permitted 
to hold their lands, on paying annually half their 
produce to the conquerors*. 

The Spartan constitution was completely feudal, 
for the whole population was divided into soldiers 
and slaves ; and the distinction was so extreme, 
that it was well observed, that at Sparta a freeman 

^Plutarch says, that it was under Soiis, the most distin- 
guished of the ancestors of Lycurgus^ that the helotes were 
made slaves. Lycurgus, 

* Lycurgus gave his laws under Agesilas accorditig to Pausa- 
nias, according to others under Archelaus, who was imme- 
diately succeeded by Teleclus, then by Alcamenes, in whose 
reign they took Helos, a maritime city possessed by the 
Achseans. Pausanias, lib. 3, c. 2. I imagine, that the dispute 
on this subject arises from the same word in Greek signifying 
both prisoners of war and helotes. . But it is strange, that there 
should be such doubt and disagreement concerning Lycurgus, 
who lived three centuries only before the age of Socrates. 
Plato, Minos, p. 567. 

'.Pausanias, lib. A, c. 14, & c. 23. 

♦Plutarch, iiycuigus. 



44 Preliminaiij Discourse. 

was most free, and a slave most enslaved. The 
helotes were the labourers of the soil, and these 
were ruled magisterially by the Spartans with arms 
in their hands. Plutarch has compared the Spartan 
government and general economy to a great camp ; 
and in these respects it was more feudal than the 
governments, which have been particularly distin- 
guished by this title, for, according to Plato's re- 
proach, all their laws regarded a miilitary establish- 
ment'. 

If then, as I have quoted from Isocrates, the 
Dorians on their first invasion of the Peloponnesus 
established a feudal government, that is of soldiers 
and slaves, of conquerors and the conquered, Ly- 
curgus must yield his pretensions to the discovery 
of the Spartan constitution. But I depend on a 
much more confident authority against his assumed 
claims. The feudal government of Sparta, and it 
was feudal, if ever such a regimen existed among 
mankind, has without exception been always esta- 
blished, and could only be established, by a con- 
queror, domestic or foreign. Neither of these was 
Lycurgus. His whole life was peaceable: Then 
how could he have been the inventor of the Spar- 
tan constitution ? For it is inconceivable, nay im- 
possible, that in perfect tranquillity one half of a 
state, indeed the helotes were vastly the greater 

'De Legib, Jib. I, p. 7/0. 



' Preliminary Discourse » 45 

division^ should submit to be divested both of their 
property and freedom. The immense disparity be- 
tween freemen and slaves, a state in which the 
many are nothing, and a few every thing, could 
only be produced by the most violent revolution, 
the effect of civil war, or foreign conquest. So 
much for a general viev/ of the Lacedsm.onian 
commonwealth. I proceed to other particulars con- 
cerning it. 

The reason of my introducing here any remarks 
on the Spartan laws was to show, that they origi- 
nated in barbarous times. This I can manifest by 
the institutions themselves taken implicitly from the 
writings of their greatest admirers. Some say, 
that Lycurgus divided Sparta into nine thousand 
lots\ and Laconia into thirty thousand, which he 
appointed to so many citizens. Others differ in 
their account of the number of lots, but all agree, 
that he effected an agrarian distribution among the 
citizens. What notion does this report excite in 
the reader's mind ? Not that Lycurgus possessed 
great authority and contrivance, but that the people 
were so barbarous, that their land had until this 
time been held in common, which is customary 
among many barbarians. 

This supposition, beside the reason of the case, 
is countenanced by particular circumstances. It is 

^ Plutarch, I.ycnrgus. 



46 Preliminary Discourse, 

said, that Lycurgus, having divided the land, at- 
tempted to divide the moveables', and miscarried. 
If then it be supposed, that the land before this 
period had been appropriated, it follows, that they 
preferred their goods to their lands ; v/hich seems to 
be most improbable. There is also another reason 
for believing, that the land was not individually ap- 
propriated before Lycurgus administered the state : 
for after this the people lived in a great m^easure in 
common at their public tables, to which they all 
indiscriminately contributed some portion of the 
produce of their farms. So that in effect the alte- 
ration introduced by Lycurgus was to make the 
land proper to each, which had formerly been com- 
mon to all. 

Writers have not attended to these particulars : 
indeed they seem .purposely to have avoided them, 
for it is much easier to fancy than to reason. Hence 
they have begun their relation of Lycurgus and 
Sparta not dispassionately, but with credulous ad- 
miration : they concei'/ed, that they beheld the 
profoundest policy, when they should have seen 
the simplest maiiners ; 2d\A stoical virtue, when the 
wants of barbarism ivere obvious. 

Lm conformity to this observation we are told^ 
that Lycurgus carried his providence concerning the 
citizens even preparatory to marriage that should 

riatnrch; Lyciirgu?. 



Preliminary Discourse, 47 

produce them. Thence he ordered, that the women 
should exercise -like the men. But in most bar- 
barous countries the females exceed the males in 
their exertions. We are also told, that, in order 
to preserve a strong brood, it was reputable for a 
husband of a weak frame to lend his wife to a vigo- 
rous neighbour ; and it is likewise mentioned as 
great policy, that there was no such offence as adul- 
tery, nor any such vexation as jealousy at Sparta — 
that is, the intercourse of the sexes was by the 
custom of the country promiscuous. Yet have 
many barbarians been not less profligate, though 
they had not Lycurgus for their legislator. And 
here 1 cannot avoid observing something rather lu- 
dicrous in the contrariety of the Spartan la\vs : 
though there was a general libertinism authorized 
by them with regard to the marriage bed, though 
the virgins danced naked amidst crov;ds of men, 
yet by the laws of Sparta a bridegroom enjoyed his 
bride by stealth'. " This," says Plutarch, " exer- 
cised their temperance and chastity." Excellent 
commentator ! Nay some of them he says had chil- 
dren by their Vv^ives before they openly associated 
together. Even this capital reach of policy is prac- 
tised by some South American Indians. " The 
men," says Heriot"", " always sleep and live In the 

' Plutarch, Lycurgus. 
^7'ravels in Canaua, p. 23/. 



48 Preliminary Discourse. 

same cabin. This practice extends even to those 
who are married, who cannot enter the cabins where 
their wives reside but mider the obscurity of night." 

In Sparta, it is said, the children were washed, 
on their appearance in the world, not in water, but 
wine, supposing, that under this baptism the feeble* 
must expire. The child had hardly passed this 
ordeal, before it was again tried for it's life, as the 
same author and many others relate. 

On the day the infant was bom it was carried to 
a particular place, and there examined by certain 
elders of the state ; if pronounced inlirm by them, 
it was destroyed ; if not, it was assigned one of 
the nine thousand shares of land. Here again the 
genius of Lycurgus is greatly applauded, which in 
like manner he must share with many barbarians. 

Plutarch mentions, that Lycurgus ordered the 
children to be fed with spare diet, in order that 
they might grow tall and handsome ; on which oc- 
casion the biographer enters into a physiological ar- 
gument, that, though much food renders men 
broad, little food makes them tall. 

" The Spartan boys," says Nicolas Damascenus\ 
" are whipped round an altar, until a few remain 
unsubdued by the chastisement. These are crowned.'* 
And Plutarch says, " At this day," speaking of his 

^ Plutarch _, Lycurgus. 

*p. 5G6. This small tnict is generally printed ^vllh others. 



Preliminary Discourse, 49 

the young men will expire under the 
lash at the altar of Diana Orthia." In whatever way 
this is interpreted^ I think, that it will not increase 
the reader's affection or respect for the Spartan laws. 
It appears from Pausanias', that, in conformity to 
an ancient oracle, which ordered, " that the altar 
of Diana should be sprinkled with blood," Lycur- 
gus introduced this sanguinary scourging as a satis- 
faction for the more ancient practice of human sa- 
crifice. Considering the practice in this view, it 
denotes savage manners ; considering it as a disci- 
pline, it betrays the same repulsive situation of life. 
It is however by no means peculiar to the Spartans. 
Hear Robertson's'^ account of the native Americans. 
*^ As the youth of other nations exercise themselves 
in feats of activity and force, those of America vie 
with one another in exhibitions ,of their patience un- 
der sufferings. They harden their nerves by these' 
voluntary trials, and gradually accustom themselves 
to endure the sharpest pain without complaining. All 
the trials customary in America, when a youth is 
admitted into the class of v/arriors, or when a warrior 
is promoted to the dignity of captain or chief, are 
accommodated to this idea of manliness.'* 

»Lib. I. 

* History of America, b. 4, vol. 2, p. 116. Plato says, that 
the patience and fortitud'i of the young Spartans were tried by- 
exposing them naked and unprovided to the inclemeneies of 
summer. De Legib, lib. I, p. 774, 
VOL. I, K 



^0 Freliminarn Discourse, 



J 



The Spartans were mere barbarians ; they had 
no tincture of letters'. What ! was Lycurgus by 
an inspiration from Delphi induced .to extinguish the 
lights of science and literature in his country ? The 
Spartans esteemed all arts base, but war" ; industry 
they thought mean and degrading. An anecdote is 
related by Plutarch, which strongly marks their 
sentiments on this point. — A Lacedaemonian, when 
at Athens, perceiving a crowd, asked the cause of 
it. He was informed, it was collected about one 
who had been fined for idleness. On this he re- 
quested the person he had addressed to show him 
the man, " v/ho had been punished for maintaining 
his dignity." , Could any feudal baron have spoken 
with a more magnanimous regard to slothfulness 
and arms ? If we bear in our memory their an- 
tipathy to learning, we may perhaps fancy as good 
a reason for Lycurgus leaving no written laws be- 
hind him, as that given by Plutarch : simply that 
Lycurgus could not write; or that, if he could, 
the Spartans could not have read his laws, had they 
been written by him. 

It is said, that, beside literature, he forbade all 
the polite arts, and kept the necessary professions 

* Ou j£ y^c/jLij.ajta. (j^avScc'/sa-iv, Isocrates, Panathen. p. 426. 
Thucydides thinks it remarkable, that Brasidas was not insuf- 
ficient in speaking, though he was a Lacedaemonian. Lib. 4^ 
p, 308. Francofurti Editio, always used. 

^Nicolas DamasceniiSj .p. 5(5l. 



I 



Preliminary Dl&course, 51 

and trades in the utmost backwardness. '' He or- 
dered," says Plutarch '5 " the ceilings to be only 
wrought with the axe, and the doors with the saw." 
Judaea itself did not so abound with miraculous 
achievements of it's legislator. It was a great reach 
of policy^ to prepare the wooden work of houses 
with the axe and saw according to constitutional 
laws. Yet I have myself seen houses constructed 
by the axe alone, which was done from the law of 
necessity, for the axe in this place was the carpen- 
ter's only tool. 

Being apprised that they had no arts, we shall 
easily, without recurring to Lycurgus, imagine, 
why they had iron money according to Plutarch \ 
and leather money according to Nicolas Damascenus. 
Having no mines, they had no means of obtaining 

^ Plutarch, Lycurgus. 

^ Plutarch's account is truly ridiculous. Lycurgus attempted 
to divide the movables. This he failed to effect. In conse- 
quence he stopped the gold and silver money, and substituted 
iron coin in it's place. By this means he ended much injustice. 
For vv^ho would store money, when ten minae would require a 
room to contain them, and a yoke of oxen to draw them ? 
who would steal or take a bribe ? &:c. Yet, according to Plu- 
tarch, all this did not satisfy Lycurgus, he had the iron money 
quenched in vinegar, to render it unfit for any other purpose. 
Plutarch however recovered his senses a little, though his fol- 
lowers have not. He says in his Life of Lysander, that these 
Laconian bits of brass and iron resembled the ancient money of 
most nations, 

2: 2r 



52 Preliminary Discourse. 

the precious metals, nor any use far them, had 
they possessed them. They used iron money for 
the same reason, that the ancient Romans used 
copper ; It suited their paltry exchange ; or for the 
same reason, that the dethroned James in his royal 
progress through Ireland, and the French at the 
crisis of their revolution, coined bell- metal : po- 
verty, not choice^ was their adviser on this occasion^ 

It was the want of the arts, and a destitution of 
all things, which made them resist the admission of 
foreign goods. Nothing is more common among 
barbarians, than objecting to the entrance of foreign 
manufactures ; and even nations ad\^ancing to civi- 
lization, have shown the same jealousy. But we 
are told, that this prohibition was enacted by Ly- 
curgus, to prevent the Spartans from being ener- 
vated with luxury. The same reason, according to 
Csesar', directed the Nervii to forbid the introduc- 
tion of wine and other articles into their country. 

Lycurgus, it is said, interdicted the Spartans from 
travelling abroad, and strangers from residing in 
Lacedssmon. Let Thucydides^ and Plutarch^ con- 
tend for the cause of this profound pohcy : both 

^DeBello Gall, lib, 2. 

^He says, that this was instituted through jealousy, lest 
foreigners should learn their customs. 

^ He says, lest by traveling abroad they should learn evil 
customs, and introduce them on their return to their country- 
men. 



Prelimmary Discourse, ^3 

>^ere illiberal, and of all the nations in Europe per- 
mission to visit foreign countries is now esteemed a 
favour only in Russia. As to the jealousy of the 
Spartans concerning the visits of foreigners to their 
country, it is a general failing among barbarians. 

The Arabs ^ consider ail strangers as spies, and 
by the laws of Hoei Dha'^ a stranger and a leper are 
placed in the same class, and both might be killed 
with the same impunity. 

To what refinement of policy are we to refer the 
robbery and murder authorised by the Spartan laws ? 
In the heroical ages, so the most barbarous were 
called, piracy was honourable : and every nation, 
as it was barbarous, may claim the same distinction. 
Piracy was a noble enterprise with Homer's godlike 
chiefs ; and the Phoceans"^ in the time of Tarquin 
esteemed it honourable. Neither did the Germans, 
our illustrious ancestors, deem predatory excur- 

* Shaw's Travels, preface, p. 1 1 . The Lacedaemonians were 
very suspicious. It seems that they made a mystery of the 
number of soldiers, that they contributed to the confederacy, 
ThucydideSj lib. 5, p. SQL 

^Ward, Law of Nations, p. 141, Dublin Edit. Thus 
among the Romans, any one who entered the territory of the 
state, whose country was not in express alliance or in hospi- 
tality with them, might be enslaved. Digest, lib. 49, tit, 15. 
The words of the law arc, Captus et servus sit. 

^ Plerumque etiam latrocinio maris, quod iUis temporibus 
gloriae habebatur, &c. Justin, lib. 43, c. 3. 



54 Preliminarij Discourse, 

sions inglorious ^ But the institutions of Lycurgus 
surpassed these. It was not foreign but domestic 
robbery, which they enjoined. Let not however 
the eulogists of Sparta be too elated : this was not 
-peculiar to Sparta. The Arabs consider robbery a 
mark of genius, sa^^s Dapper^ : and, according to 
Busbequius^, a dexterous thief among the Turks 
was considered a great man, while one inexpert in 
this accomplishment was called a stock, and univer* 
sally despised. To the same effect is the laconic 
phrase of the Indians of the continent : " the 
greater rogue, the greater man*." 

From the political institution of robbery at Sparta 
w^e come to that of mxurder, V/e are informed by 
Keraclides', that Lycurgus introduced the %ov7VT',h 

^ C:ssar de Esll. Gall. Latrocinari extra fines cuj usque civi- 
tatis nulla est infamia. 

^ ^Les Arabes s'en vantent de leurs voleries^ comme d'une 
marque d'esprit. p. 295. 

^ Qui dextro mercurio fc.ratur, magnus censetur ; qui n,f:scit;, 
ufc stilpo et truncus despicitiir, imo vix communi luce dignus 
judicaiur. Leg. Turc. Epist. 3. 

^Percivars Ce)ion, p. 78. Many nations „have professed 
robbery beside those mentioned in the text. The Spaniards, 
says Plutarch, do not consider robbery dishonourable. Caius 
Marius. The Ciiicians rejoiced in robbery, KriGSicc sy^onpov. 
.Diog. Laert. p. 684. The same is reported of the Scotch and 
L'ish of preceding times.. &c. 

'■^ De Poliiicis, p. 505. This is bound up with small tracts. 
It is probable, that the murderous part of this discipline was 



Frelimlnary Discourse,. 55 

ambuscade, on which the young men went abroad 
and killed all the helotes they met. \Ye may perhaps 
find the policy of this m referring to Heriot's ac- 
count of the Indians'. " Their education is almost 
entirely limited to the knowledge of making war by 
stealth, and to the habitual exercise of patience and 
fortitude in enduring the most severe trials of misery 
and pain." This quotation m a great measure ex- 
plains the Spartan education ; but for the extent of 
their sanguinary discipline it is wholly incompetent, 
nor do I know any instance in the savage annals of 
mankind, which consigned the slaves of the state 
to be butchered by the young men, either for their 
pastime or their improvement. Such v/ere some of 
the most famous institutions of the Spartans ; and 
such Lycurgus, whom the oracle questioned, when 
he entered the temple, whether he should address a 
mortal or a God\ 

reformed in Plato's time. According to him the xpwn'T'aioc were 
a severe preparation f.;r a military lite. Without servants, and 
naked from head to foot, the youth on these occasions wan- 
dered through the whole country. De Legib. lib. I, p. 774. 
And the Scholiast adds, that they supported themselves by se- 
cret pillage. This is nearly what Diodorus, lib. 5, reports of 
the Iberians. That their brave and poorer youth, having as- 
sem.bled lightly armed in the mountains, overran the country, 
robbing and enriching themselves. 

^Heriot's Travels in Canada, p. 27G. 

^Xenophon, Apol. Socrat. p. '/04^ Opera, Polybius also 
Sf'^ys, that the institutions of Lycurgus were more suited to the 



56 Preliminartj Discourse, 

I have shown how little the laws of England and 
Sparta, of which so much has been ignorantly and 
ostentatiously spoken, deserve to be praised. I shall 
slightly notice a few others. 

It is said, that Theseus formed the people of 
Attica into one state. Plutarch^ says, that he di- 
vided the people into nobility, husbandmen, and me- 
chanics : Dionysiusof Halicarnassus% that the Athe- 
nians were divided into two orders, the svTraTpiooct^, 
patricians, so called from their opulence or family ; 
and the aypioi, or husbandmen : and this was in 
some measure the distinctions of the people after 
the reformation of their code by Solon. The an- 
cient constitution of Athens was avowedly defective, 
and that afterward produced by Solon the legislator 
himself condemned, when, being asked whether 
he had given the Athenians the best laws, he an- 
swered, " the best they are capable of bearing^" 
These rem^arks will satisfy the present purpose, as I 
shall have occasion in the sequel of this work to 
show some capital defects in the constitution of the 
Athenians. 

If we turn our observation from ancient to mo- 

wisdora of a God than of a man, lib. 6, c. 8, whom I considev 
^uperiour to all the divine oracles of antiquity. 

'Theseus. -Lib. 2, c. 8 

^ They are referred to by Isocrates, De Bigis, p. 529. 

^ Plutarch, Solon. 



Prelimmary Discourse. 51 

dern states, and even to the most celebrated among 
them for liberty and prudence^ we shall be disap- 
pointed, if we have been greatly prejudiced in their 
favour. The constitution of the Low Countries 
was uncouth in it's general structure, and it's parts 
were ill-connected and incongruous. What shall 
v/e say of the Helvetic confederacy ? By some it 
was called concordia discors, by others confusio dU 
vmitus conservata, I do not say so, and I should 
with still less truth apply similar expressions to the 
United States of America. But surely neither com- 
pletely displays a philosophical temper in the detail 
of it's constituent parts, or great providence in their 
incorporation. I own I cannot but be alarmed for 
the permanency of the American goveniment ; 
perhaps my fears on this subject are groundless, as 
my affection for the cause of America and liberty is 
extreme. 

The chief reason for the great defects in the best 
policied commonwealths, beside the general igno- 
rance of those who were busied in their construc- 
tion, is, that the ancient laws and customs, which 
were derived from arbitrary, or accidental, or pecu- 
liar circumstances, from necessity, prejudice, craft, 
folly, or vice, become by succession of time so ef- 
fectually the inveterate principles of thinking among 
legislators and people, that, when an opportunity 
offers for their reformation, their utmost efforts in 



58 'Preliminary Discourse* 

this crisis of their distress and precipitation extend 
no farther than to lop when they should eradicate^ 
and to cover the mouldering trunk with some fantas- 
tic ornaments, as children strew flowers on a tomb. 

That men should follow on such occasions a 
.direct contrary practice ; that, on the renovation of 
their laws, when the period of time during which 
they had been established had been lengthened 
misery and oppression, they should take counsel 
from their resentments and sufferings, and fall de* 
sperately into the other extreme ; might appear more 
probable to a casual observer. Yet I may affirm 
without much fear of it's being disproved, that the 
blemishes in reformed states are rather to be imputed 
to an extreme submission to Vv^hat had been esta- 
blished^ than to an inordinate zeal for novelty and 
experiment. 

My arguments hitherto in treating this subject 
have been principally directed to my countrymen ; 
I now address them more generally : not that I 
mean to refute all the captious remarks, and trivial 
innuendoes, which the listless and timid, the capri- 
cious and the invidious, the subtle, the interested, 
and the corrupt may unwarrantably utter. To con- 
jecture them, would be vain ; to refute them, would 
be idle. One objection to my design, Vv'hich, if 
disregarded, might pass current with different de- 
scriptions of men, I shall hov/ever not pass unno« 



Preliminary Discourse, 59 

deed. It may be said, that legislative theories are in- 
jurious to the safety and happiness of nations : that 
they tend to disgust men with what is est-ablished, 
and to distract them with visionary imaginations. 
^This is identical or consequential with a reproach, 
that men are prone to innovation ; which assertion 
is as universally made, as it is universally false. 

Take any period of time, and you shall find 
mankind irrevocably fixed in their habits. Consider 
the attachment of all nations to their respective 
superstitions : so f^ir are m.en from being afHicted 
with an innovating temper, that they are immovable 
in their prejudices. Century after century England 
endured the increasing corruptions and tyranny of 
the catholic church. Yet the British people con- 
tinued to reverence those, who inveighed against 
all- worldly pursuits, w^iiie they seized by various 
equivocations and crimes nearly one half of the 
property of the stated 

This flagrant abuse, and a thousand others, they 
suffered, and might perhaps have still suffered, had 
not the impetuosity of Henry the Eighth been ex- 
cited. By his means the catholic religion vras re- 

^ Of 60215 knights' fees, which were the amount of the 
whole property of the stale, according to Domesday Book, 
28015 belonged to the church. Henry's Hist, of England, 
b. 3, c. 3, s. I, 



60 Preliminary Discourse. 

formed : and what was the extent of that reforma- 
tion, which is hailed as an event of immeasurable 
fehcity* ? When we consider what was done, and 
what should have been done ; how small is the 
cause of triumph ! Nothing, not even the impre- 
scriptible tyranny and abuses of the church of Rome, 
can show the obstinacy of mankind in their preju- 
dices more forcibly than the paltry alterations, which 
the reformers m.ade in the catholic creed. Look to 
the Hindoos and Chinese. The missionaries, and 
the societies for the propagation of Christianity, 
have made no progress in converting the followers 
of Brahma or the believers in Fo. 

This perseverance in customs and opinions is by 
no means confined to religion ; nor have religious 
dogmas alone the prerogative of having martyrs for 
their truth. Many Chinese have submitted to exile 
rather than wear their garments slit behind or be- 
fore^ : and several thousands of them have chosen 
rather to lose their heads than their hair% from a 
prejudice that may be traced perhaps to a custom 
more ancient than that mentioned by Nicolas Da- 

^Tcwnsend, a derg)'man of the established churchy says. 
When the points of difference between protestants and papists 
shall be fairly and distinctly stated, the subject of dispute will 
\'anish. Tr.ivels in Spain, Dublin Edit. vol. 1, p. 267. 

'-'Memoires des Missionaires, Sec. t. 4-, p. 287- 
DuHalde's Hist, of Chini, vol. !, p. 473. 



Preliminary Discourse, 61 

mascenus^, who reports^ " that the Indians employ 
shaving as a punishment." It is also mentioned 
among the most tyrannical acts of William the 
Conqueror^ that he made the English shave the 
hair off their upper lip : and vi^e find from Aristotle% 
that the tyrant of Caria extorted much wealth from 
the Lycians, by compounding for money his own 
order to them to crop their hair. 

This superstitious observance of customs is thus 
extended to the most trivial things^ which have not 
even the least authority from religion : and the 
reader may remember, that a few years ago an En- 
glish governor in Asia, by attempting to change 
the headdress of the native troops^ occasioned a 
mutiny, which might have ended in a general revolt^ 
had not the order been withdrawn. The confor- 
mity of nations to their ancient opinions and habits 
is often so remarkable, that we may say of the 
Tartars and Arabs what Shaw does of the Kabyles\ 

' p. 564. ^ Henry's Hist, of England, b. 3, c. 7, p. 553, 

^ De Cura Rei Famil. p. 504, Opera. 

* About the same time that the change was attempted to be 
made in the seapoys' turban, which was beneath the attention 
of a milliner's apprentice, and which occasioned such dissatis- 
faction and danger j a large part of the 69th regiment was cut 
to pieces by the natives, because they feared, that the govern- 
ment designed to force them to embrace Christianity. Such 
are our generals and governors. 

'Travels in Africa, p. 220. 



62 Prelhninary Discourse, 

they now present the same appearance in every re- 
spect, that, they have done from the remotest anti- 
quity. And the American Indians^ who may be 
as old in their manners as any nation whatever, 
show, according to Heriot^, '' an unaccountable 
aversion to innovation." 

This rooted affection of all descriptions of people 
both civilized and savage has not been unobserved. 
It struck Montesquieu^ so forcibly v/ith regard to 
the Asiatics^ that he attributed their attachment to 
their ancient habits to a laziness of mind and body, 
which, having once received an impression, be- 
came ever after unable to assume a new character. 
Yet Guy% in his observations on this passage, re- 
jects the reason assigned by Montesquieu for this 
uniformity of sentiments and conduct ; affirming, 
that the Greeks, who are eminently spiritual and 
alert, are no less wedded to their ancient customs 
than the Asiatics. 

So entirely are men the creatures of habit \ that 

^Travels in Canada^ p. 320. 

^L'Esprit des Loix^ liv. 14, c. 4. 

•^Travels in Greece^ letters. 

**Jtmay be though t, that the fluctuation of fashions amon^ 
the idle and the opulent proves the contrary. But were the 
changes of this trivial class really important, what authority 
could they be on this or any -other question ? The alteration of 
their dresses is little, and the old fashion soon resumes it's no- 
velty. No people have considerably changed the national dress. 



Preliminary Discourse. 6^ 

they are often fond of their misfortunes, and dote 
on them in proportion to their antiquity. Length 
of time in their apprehension alters the nature of 
things. What has been long established they esteem 
well-established ; as if a vice of long continuance 
were not errour in it's old age. It is therefore false, 
that men are disposed to innovation ; nor is it less 
so, that a desire of alteration would be most fatal 
to the interests of society ; on the contrary it would 
be much more fortunate for mankind, if they were 
more disposed to amend their situation by experi- 
ments. Great things might be expected from this 
aspiring temper, if indeed such a temper itself do 
not manifest a considerable proficiency in virtue : 

No, it is a melancholy truth, that men, so far 
from being restless under bad governments, are 
sometimes as fondly besotted in their habitual de- 
basement, as their tyrants are obstinately bent to 
preserve their, despotism. Nay, some are more so ; 
witness the Cappadocians, who refused the liberty 
offered them by the Rom.an people^ ; witness the 
slaves in France, who refused the same boon con- 
*ferred on them by an ordinance of Louis the Tenth ""; 

And it is observed of the American IndianS;, that all of them, 
even those who are in the neighbourhood of the Europeans, 
preserve the costume of their ancestry. Heriot, p. 292. 

'Strabo, lib. 12, p, 273. Justin, lib. 38, c. 2. 

*D Ach, Special, vol. 9, p. 38/. 



64* . Preliminartj Dh course. 

Witness the conduct of the villains, who Inhabited 
that division of Poland, which on it's partition was 
assigned to Austria. In 1773 they were declared 
free : yet so adverse were they to accept this un- 
accustomed privilege, that it was found expedient 
to surround Austria's portion with imperial troops, 
to prevent their escape to the other divisions of this 
distracted land, where liberty had not been pro- 
claimed, and where they might resume their former- 
dependence^ 

To impute an innovating spirit to mankind in law 
or government is contradicted by the universal 
evidence of history ; and 1 have quoted instances 
of men and nations, who have preferred inveterate 
bondage to innovated liberty, when the latter had 
been honestly proposed to them for their acceptance. 
Consider this point in every view ; compare the 
everlasting duration of tyrannies, and the occasional 
insurrections of the oppressed. Hov/ many nations 
have been iraprescriptibly the victims of despotism [ 
If ever the people rose, it was merely to punish 
some great criminals ; which being effected, they 

* Voyage de Deux Frangois;, t. 5, p. 106. Neill^ in his Tour 
to the Orkney and Shetland Islands, says. The poor inhabitants 
of Shetland are so habituated to vassalage, that, in a district 
where the owner wished to improve their condition, they re- 
quested, after having tried an independent state for some time> 
to be restored to their former state of bondage. 



Preliminary Discourse, 65 

relapsed into their former apathy. Even «f those 
who carried their notions beyond this summary ven- 
geance to a renovation of the state^ what have they 
effected ? Look to the British revolution in J 688 — 
a counterpart in politics for the reformation in re- 
ligion. Look a century afterward to the conduct 
of the French : their revolution, that child which 
had been brought forth with such unexampled 
agonies, they destroyed almost at it's birth. Not 
€Ven the English at the Restoration with more zeal 
hailed Charles the dissolute offspring of a despicable 
sire, than the French returned to monarchy. A 
king they would have, for a king they had had. The 
crown was offered to Moreau, and his virtue rejected 
it. The sequel is told in the holy apologue of the 
bramble, which ruled among the king-loving shrubs. 
Consider these topics in all their bearings, and 
the love for what is customary^ and the submission 
to what is ordained, will still more obviously appear 
to be the human disposition. Consider in ancient 
and modem times the disproportion between masters 
and slaves, and the patience of these under oppres* 
sion. The slaves at Athens, where the theme of 
liberty was so triumphantly spoken, that the brutes 
might have been moved to licentiousness, though 
much more numerous than the citizens, never but 
once revolted, if I am not mistaken, during the 
existence of the republic. 

VOL. I, F 



66 Preliminary Discourse, 

At Sparta there is more than a solitary instance of 
the revolt of the helotes. But observe their situa- 
tion, and it will appear, not so extraordinary that 
they sometimes took advantage of the public distress 
to escape from their bondage, as that they ever per- 
mitted one to pass without making the attempt. 
.How often might not the helotes have shown their 
desperation by arming against their masters ! How 
often might they not have taken vengeance on their 
oppressors ! The insults and torture which they en- 
dured, their vast superiority of numbers, and the 
offices which the necessity of public affairs often 
obliged the Spartans to trust to them, all conspired. 
Yet they resisted these provocations and opportuni- 
ties, and particularly one, which deserves to be 
specified. The Spartans sent an army of forty 
thousand troops against the Persians, who were ap- 
proaching to enslave the Peloponnesus*. Of this 
army, thirty-five thousand were armed helotes. 
What an opportunity was this for them to satiate 
their inveterate hate ! But the helotes preserved their 
loyalty, forgetting their own wrongs in the danger 
of their masters. With them they conquered the 
Persians at Platgeas, as the ten thousand slaves en- 
rolled by the Athenians had before triumphed at 
Marathon over the same enemies. 

» Here dot us, lib. 9, c. 10. 



Preliminary Discourse. 67 

The forbearance of the enslaved in succeeding 
times is not less remarkable ; and their forbearance 
in the European colonies is not the least extraordi- 
nary of all those circumstances and situations, in 
which their patience has been displayed, for the 
difference of colour obviously distinguishes the op- 
pressed from their oppressors, and the oppressed 
vastly exceed in numbers those who oppress them. 
In Antigua the negroes are to the whites as fifteen 
to one, in Grenada as twenty three to one. To 
speak generally it has been computed, that in 1790 
the slaves were to the whites as ten to one in the 
French colonies, as fourteen to one in the English, 
a§ twenty- three to one in the Dutch : yet notwith- 
standing this great and manifest superiority of the 
slaves to their mastersj and their sufferings, they 
have seldom revolted. 

They revolted in St. Domingo, which was pecu- 
liarly situate ; for, beside the immense body of 
slaves which it contained, not less than half a mil- 
lion, there was an annual increase by importation 
of twenty-nine thousand more. These however 
v/ere not the causes of their revolt^ nor did it pro- 
ceed from their own ambition to advance themselves 
from the lowest state of existence to the rank of 
men ; it followed among the consequences of the 
French revolution. Nor were the insurrections in 
«he Dutch settlements in South America to b^ attri- 

f 2 



63 Preliminary Discourse, 

buted either to their numbers, when It is to be re- 
membered they were as twenty-three to one, or to 
any glorious impulse from slavery to freedom ; they 
were driven to this desperate extremity ; they did 
not promote the occasion, they did not as moral 
reflecting men seize an opportunity for their re- 
demption. They resisted as creatures agonized turn 
on the foot that tramples them. 

These observations are countenanced by a writer 
Cfn colonial policy, who does not indulge a melting 
strain, or betray a feverish interest in the fate of 
t^ose negroes, who have shown by their resolution, 
that they are not that base herd born to be the 
drudges of mankind. Brougham^ on the contrary 
insists, that these negroes are to be considered as 

the Jacobins of the West Indies that it is devoutly 

to be wished, that the French may succeed against 

them, and reduce them to slavery that we should 

join the French in this contest and that the ne- 
groes are the common enemy : adding, that we 
should recollect, by subsidizing the colonial treasury 
of France we are preserving that trade, which 
brings millions to our exchequer. Shall the lust of 
commerce for ever extinguish the voice of huma- 
nity ? Such doctrines on colonial policy exceed the 
sarcasm of the Roman satirist on the Roman man- 
ners, " having' first raised a fortune^ then let us 

^ Colonial Policy, vol.2, p. 311. 



J^relminary Discourse. 69 

attend to virtue :" with the British, trade and the 
exchequer are the beginning and end of ail their 
pursuits. 

In opposition to my argument in favour of the 
acquiescence of men in what is established, and 
particularly against the submission of colonists, the 
conduct of the Americans has been quoted : and it 
is consequential, that falsehood should succeed 
abuse. Let it be remembered, that in 1759, when 
the population in America was thin and dispersed, 
they raised troops for the service of the mother- 
country, and were victorious at Louisbourg, Nova 
Scotia, Cape Breton, and that they sent abroad 
many ships against the enemy. How was this con- 
duct requited by the English government ? For the 
first fifteen years of the present king*s reign, says 
Jefferson^, the colonies were taxed internally and 
externally, and their essential rights sacrificed to in- 
dividuals belonging to Great Britain. Their legis- 
latures w^ere suspended, trial by jury taken away, 
the colonists subjected to transportation and to be 
arraigned before foreign judicatures, their supplica- 
tions for redress contemptuously treated, &c. 

Were such accumulated insults and oppressions 
to be endured ? They did endure them, and their 
proposals were more suited to the best treatment of 
the mother-country than to the worst. They were 

* Notes on Virginia, p. 170. 



70 Treliminary Discourse, 

willing to support their own administration and po- 
lice, to contribute to all imperial concerns demanded 
constitutionally, and in 1775 they offered to raise 
one hundred thousand pounds annually for a cen- 
tury as a sinking fund to assist England in paying 
her national debt'. These propositions were equi- 
table and honourable. But the Americans would 
not resign themselves to the discretion of a profli- 
gate and overbearing ministry : this was the extent 
of their offence. They resisted, but they did not 
innovate on. the customs and opinions of their an- 
cestry on either side of the Atlantic. They had 
been taught, that they were descended from free- 
men, who boasted, that they could be taxed only 
by themselves or their representatives. Other prin- 
ciples of the same character had also made part of 
their education. They read, that the English re- 
volted from John, and compelled him to pass that 
charter, which has been treated with love and re- 
verence to the present day. They felt themselves 
in a similar predicament ; they took counsel from 
their progenitors. They resisted, and the same for- 
tune attended their exertions, which ages before 
had crowned their fathers. I have been obliged, in 

* Franklin's Miscell.inies, p. 357. In this proposal they met 
Adam Snnith's wishes, who said, that America should contribute 
towards the discharge of the 'national debts of Great Britain, 
"Wealth of Nations, vol. 3, p. 477. 



Preliminary Discourse. 71 

refuting the silly and insidious objection of fools 
and sophists^ who treat theories as dangerous to the 
stability of good government, to show that in all 
situations men are so subjected to their habits, that 
they will endure fatuity, corruption, despotism, the 
most atrocious, sooner than liberate themselves from 
those evils which time has consecrated : and in so 
doing, I have supported the unadvocated cause of 
humanity against those, who cherish the everlasting 
ignorance and oppression of mankind. 

Instead of the former argument to justify the in- 
nocence of framing theories on laws and constitu- 
tions, I should rather perhaps, after all that has 
been written, and after so little has been done for 
man's happiness, excuse myself for embarking in 
so hopeless a cause as a speculation on the better 
government of states and nations. Certainly simi- 
lar topics have occupied the gravest and the ablest 
philosophers in many parts of the globe, as Con- 
fucius', Plato, Aristotle, Heraclides Ponticus, Theo- 
hrastus, DIcaearchus, Demetrius Phalereus^ Zeno% 
Cicero. Beside several others, who also wrote in 
remote ages, many have discussed the same subjects 
in succeeding times ; and if the celebrity .of a name 

' In his Mentsee he exhibits his notion of a perfect govern- 
ment. Du Halde, vol. 3yp. 302. 

* Cicero de Legib. lib. 3. <♦ 

^Plu'iarch, de Fortib. &c. t. 2, p. 329, Opera omnia. 



T? Prelminary Dhcour^ep 

can permit intentions to be noticed with perform" 
ances, it was the design of Bacon', had not death 
intervened, to have tried his genius in the same 4^' 
partmentof philosophy. 

It may be said, if so many men, in ancient and after 
ages, of ingenuity and learning have employed 
thar talents on this subject, what can you presume 
to add to their labours ? I answer first, that I belie\>»e 
that the great concerns of mankind require many 
advocates ; and that to resume their discussion and 
defence renovates in mankind the recollection of 
their dearest interests. This, though it may not 
be attended with success to the extent proposed, I 
am persuaded is never eventually fruitless ; and at 
least it hinders prescription from concluding their 
claims, and from ending all their hopes of refor- 
mation. 

Beside this, there are various reasons for treating 
this subject, even were many of the ancient tracts 
on legislation, to which 1 have generally alluded, 
neither lost nor mutilated. V/ere they as perfect as 
the most modern, they would not preclude my plea 
for a hearing ; for Bacon's remark is not less strong 
now, than when it was made : " Philosophers have 
treated of legislation beautifully, but without use ; 
and lawyers have been too much controlled by the 

'Rawley, Ms chaplain^ says so in his preface to the New 
AtlaniLs. 



Preliminary Discourse. 73 

codes of their respective states :'* under which iml'* 
putation Shavv^, one of Bacon's editors, thinks that 
he himself may be included. So that the writers on 
general law are a host of authority in favour of the 
importance of this subject, while their execution 
excuses another effort to perform what they have 
failed to accomplish. 

Were I to descend to the invidious task of scru- 
tinizing the errours of those writers, who have dis- 
cussed portions of my subject, for no one has em- 
braced it to the extent that I propose, I could easily 
show, that their compositions had not anticipated 
my labours. But lest this might seem a vain asser- 
tion, I shall offer a few remarks on those, who have 
treated political subjects with the greatest celebrity, 

Aristotle in his Republic has written too gene- 
rally. It is a mere outline, and yet so deficient, 
that Strozzi thought it necessary to eke out the origi- 
nal with two books of his own composing. 

Locke's treatise on government is very imperfect. 
The author says, the middle portion was lost\ and 
never replaced. But it is defective in many other 
respeets. One half of the existing performance is 
an answer to Filmer, and the clergy who upheld his 
villanous opinions ; and the other half is an argu- 
ment to establish the throne of William the Third. 
A tract, the principal objects of which are to refute 

»VoI. 1, p. 243. •Preface, 



74- Preliminarif Discourse^ 

the paradoxes of a sophister, and to defend the 
title of E king, however wisely discussed, can have 
but doubtful claims to a philosophical work. 

Yet, even considering it in a more favourable 
view, Locke's reasoning is fundamentally defective ; 
he deduces his arguments from an original contract^ 
I shall hereafter enter fully into this and other ques- 
tions of a similar nature ; at present it will be suf- 
ficient to quote Temple's answer on the same oc- 
casion^ ^' that it seems calculated for the account 
given by some of the old poets of the origin of 
man, when it rained on the ground great numbers 
at a time in perfect stature and strength." Locke^ 
says in answer to those, who deny any consequence 
deduced from a supposed state of nature, " that 
all princes and rulers of independent governments 
all through the world are in a state of nature." 
What is this to the purpose ? And let me remark, 
that in this account, as Locke derived part of his 
errours from Hobbes, Locke has communicated 
part of his errours to Burke. Hobbes everlastingly 
talks of a state of nature ; and Burke founds all his 
arguments on an original contract, which he con- 

' His words are : *' All men are in a state of nature, and re- 
main so, till by their own consent they make bemselves mem- 
bers of some politic society." Essay on Government, b. 3, 
c. 2, s. 15. 

^ Essay on Government, vol. I, p. 39, oct. edit. 

^On Government, b. 2, c. 2, s. 14. 



Preliminary Discourse, 75 

siders to be in England the government of king, 
lords^ and commons^. 

But lest it might be supposed, that, because I 
have named Locke with Hobbes and Burke, I wish 
to confound their merits, I must observe, that, 
though they concurred in some principles of rea- 
soning, no one thing was ever more remote fmm 
another than the scope and nature of their argu- 
ments from his. Hobbes possessed a deep but de- 
praved insight into human nature. He was so iYoni- 
cal, or hypocritical, or both, in religious matters, that 
he appeared from his writings to that plain-minded 
man Dr. Priestley* a good Christian, though he was 
a notorious freethinker. On political aifairs he 
spoke his spleen and passion, rather than his judg- 
ment ; unless it may be thought, that by indulging 
the infirmities of his nature he convinced his own 
mind by his own resentments. He was however no 
hypocrite in politics : he avowed his predilection 
for despotism, and in this^ as in the subtlety of his 
logic, he had greatly the advantage of Burke. For 
Burke is a pitiful reasoner, and he pretends to love 
freedom, while unconditional submission is the only 
right he leaves to man. " What has been done 
cannot be undone," says he, " for the sovereignty 
of the people has passed from them by the original 



contract." 



* Appeal from the New to the Old Whigs, p. 57. 
*Introduct. to Free Discussions, &:c. p. 25, 



76 Preliminary JDiscourse, 

When was the original contract formed ? About 
a century ago. By whom ? By a majority of the 
lorda, who were created by the crown, and by com- 
moners, three fourths of whom were elected by 
boroughs. These men bound irrevocably all the 
people then existing, and all who shall exist. To 
whom does he appeal for a commentary on this ir- 
reversible contract ? To the Whig managers on 
Sacheverel's trial. He who will read that proceed- 
ing with an unprejudiced eye will perceive most 
clearly, that the former government is rejected nei- 
ther on philosophical nor on unequivocal principles, 
and that the government then established claimed 
it's security from opinions, which it's own existence 
had refuted, and which should have been dismissed 
for ever with the abdicated king. Such were Hobbes 
and Burke, the one a sophist, the other a de- 
claimer, and both devoted advocates for despotism, 
while Locke w-as a rigorous but a dispassionate lover 
of liberty and truth. 

Others, who have arraigned man's freedom like 
Hobbes and Burke, I purposely omit ; for if Hobbes 
that great sophist, and Burke that florid declaimer, 
who indeed exemplifies his own assertion, " that 
great eloquence may exist without a proportionable 
degree of wisdom','* make so miserable a figure, 
what should stop us to expose the nakedness of 
their shameless disciples ? 

* Reflections on the French Revol, p. 247, 7'li edit. 



Preli7ninary Discourse* 77 

They who have written on false principles of go- 
vernment, and have made Adam and Eve in Para- 
dise, and the same pair unparadised, the source of 
their slavish deductions^ I must neglect ; for who 
can speak of such wretches without derision ? and 
bufFoonery does not become the present subject. 

To turn from such dark and dogmatic falsifiers, 
who have wilfully strayed, to those who with bril- 
liant fancies and glowing souls have been the vic- 
tims of their own excessive sensibiliiy, I am forced 
to condemn the followers and the author of thfe so- 
cial contract. Such a contract never existed, except 
in a few and peculiar circumstances ; as when free 
citizens, having associated, went abroad in quest 
of habitations. This, Justin' says, was the case, 
when Palantus and his Spartan companions, having 
abandoned Lacedasmon, seized on the possessions 
of the Tarentines. The same seems to have been 
in a great measure the situation of the Romans 
under Romulus'^, and of the Great Company under 
Roger de Flor% which acted so formidable a pari 
in the affairs of Europe in the beginning of the 
fourteenth century. With similar impropriety are 
implied contracts, quasi pacts, &c. introduGed into 
such speculations. Yet some, who reason> on these^ 
assumptions, declare, that they use theni fictitiously. 

*Lib. 3, c. 4. «Dion. Halicar. lil>^2. 

^Burigny, vol. 2> 245,6,7. 



*78 Preliminary Discourse. 

What, draw conclusions on laws and policy from 
fxctions ? A fictitious foundation can but at best 
support a romance. 

Of those who have written on imperfect principles 
we may enumerate the civilians, who establish their 
doctrines on a supposed something called the law of 
nature. If the law of nature be taken in it's largest 
sense, it confounds man with the brute creation' ; 
if it be narrowed to Rousseau's acceptation, it refers 
to savage in exclusion of civilized life ; if it be used 
synonymously with reason, it is false ; if it be in- 
terpreted with the Stoics, " the consent of all men 
in the same things," it is impossible. Many of those 
who have reasoned largely in their theories on this 
law possessed learning and talents, as Grotius and 
Puffendorf: but Grotius wrote when the subject of 
general law was new to philosophy, and the work of 
Puffendorf on the Law of Nature and Nations is 
little more than a loose commentary on the civil 
law methodized imperfectly from his own academi- 
cal exercises ^ Selden also embraced the san^l 
principle, a man of general reading; and Cumber- 
land, who was more learned than able, or as he said 

* Jus naturale est quod natura omnia animalia docuit. Puf- 
fendorf, lib. 2, c. 3, s. 1, Law of Nature and Nations. On 
the contrary, using nature for rectitude, Zenosaid: TeKos eiir^ 
to oiJ.oXciyovix£va:c ry (pvosi ^r^v. Diog. Laert, p. 49O. 

^ His De Interregnis, De Obligationeerga Patriarn, De Sy- 
stematibus Civitatnm, De Existimatione, &rc. 



Preliminary Discourse, 79 

of himself gifted by nature zviih good wearing 
parts\ 

Among those who have written on imperfect 
principles w^e may generally include all who have 
made any particular constitution the master of their 
opinions;, as Harrington, who never ceases to keep 
his eye on the Venetian policy, and as Acherly and 
others, who lost their intellects in admiring the Bri- 
tish laws and government. They who would rear 
an edifice on the narrow foundations of states pe- 
culiarly circumstanced destroy their own industry ; 
and they, who make the customs of feudal tyrants, 
and the Gothic balance as it has been called", the 
first principles of their theories, should they add by 
their own unprejudiced reason any thing of intrinsic 
merit to such uncouth and barbarous rudiments, 
must compose a motley performance ; like him who 
mingles the elegance, lightness, and science of 
Grecian architecture with the cumbersomeness and 
gloom of an ancient castle. 

^^ They who have fallen into the other extreme, re- 
jecting all that has been established among men, are 
still more obnoxious to censure. The former erred 
hy abjectly relying on others ; the latter by an ab- 
solute and exclusive presumption in themselves. 

* Cufnberland's Memoirs^ p. 5. 

* Harrington calls that state of things, in which the clergy and 
aobility overbalance the people, by this name. Oceana, p. 39. 



8d Pt&lifiiinafy Disdduf^e, 

Thesfe vaift fantastic theorists were nuitlerous in 
the time of Isocrates, and that orator applies to them 
the epithet of trivial. Plato caught the phrensyj 
afid he bore away the prize from all equally in elo- 
quence and extravagance. To expose his insuf- 
ficiency would be idling ; he has pronounced it 
himself. In his Dialogue on Laws Socrates is his 
legislator ; yet in his Crito" Socrates says he never 
had any curiosity to study the laws of foreign coun- 
trieSj then how could he pretend to legislate ? Com- 
pare this conduct of Plato and Socrates, the great 
confederates in philosophy, with that of Timur^, an 
uneducated soldier of fortune. Before he drcw up 
his institutes, he communicated with all the learned, 
whom he required to acquaint him with all the laws, 
which had been enacted from the earliest time. He 
sent also many persons into foreign countries, to 
collect the customs of their inhabitants, and the 

>Eplst. ad Philip, p. ]63. ' 

* Plato, Opera Omnia, p. 39. Socrates also saySj that though 
he was seventy years old, he had been as stationary at Athens 
as the halt and blind : A;»a' zX^rroj gj avrr^s a-Tre^ij/xijo-o^ of 
XtaXoi ts Y.oci 'rv(p>M o\ oiXko. oLvoiitr^poi. Knowledge of politic 
institutions wai obtained in his time by visiting different coun- 
tries. 

'White's edition of Davy's Institutes of Timur, p. 167. 
Ilius CharondaSj having investigated the laws of all countries, 
chose the best, and adapted thena to his own country. Diodt 
Siculus^ lib. 12. 



Preliminary Discourse, SI 

conduGt of their princes. This being- efFected, he 
writes, " and I v/eighed their institutions, and their 
actions, and their opinions, one by one ; and from 
their approved manners^ and their good qualities, I 
selected models." 

He that presumes to write on politics uninstructed 
in the laws of foreign states must for the most 
part either transcribe those of his own country, or, 
like Socrates in Plato, speculating without experi- 
ence, be abandoned to his own fancies. Plato should 
have placed his commonwealth in Atlantis. Then 
the title of it's situation, whether derived from the 
Atlantides of Diodorus Sicuius, or his own dreams, 
in the Timssus, of that wondrous isle, would have 
prepared the reader for the numerous miracles which 
he details. He placed it in the outer sea^ — a region 

* Ey rri e^oj ^ccKccTTt!, Epist. prima, p. 205, Demostli, Opera. 
He acts not less extravagantly. At one time he attributes this 
wondrons polity to the ancient Athenians ; Timseus, p. 1045 ; 
and again he says, that, as far as he is acquainted, ic does not 
exist on Earth, but perhaps it has it's nodel in Heaven. De 
Repub. jib. g, p. 741. He also modera ely observes, hat all 
things will not so exactly occur in reality, as they do in his dis- 
course. De Legib. lib 5, p. 850. — The millennium of which 
he speaks i.i his Republic is a journey of that ] eriod, r-);v 
TTooBiOcv "^iAiSTTj : dc Repub. lib 10, p. 76 1 : but in his Phas- 
don, p. 1220, he speaks of a millennium as at present under- 
stood. — T] at 1 have attached the li'y;2e.us t^ the Republic is 
not wiihout foundauon : for in the beginni -g of the Timaeu?^ 
VOL. I. G 



S-2 Preliminary Discourse. 

reputed by the ancients to abound with all monstrous 
things. Plato ends his Republic with an apologue in 
form of a vision concerning Hades and a rRillennium;, 
to this he adds the visionary Timgeus as an epilogue, 
to which enormous romance he attaches a greater — 
the Atlanticus. 

Thus many ancient writers speculated v^ithout 
facts ; and many in after ages, and even in modern 
times, have exceeded their extravagance, as Con- 
dorcet, Priestley, and Godwin : the first framed 
imaginary laws for an imaginary people, while the 
last spoke with confidence of the perfectibility of 
man, which every man's feelings contradict*. Per- 
haps Sir Thomas More may be excepted from both 
those visionary tribes. I think the Utopia in some 
measure corresponds with Gulliver's Travels, though 

though this dialogue has different interlocutors from those in the 
Republic, Socrates being the only one that is common to both^ 
reference is made to a discourse of the preceding day concern- 
ing government, iteoi iroAirsiccc, p. 1042. As Plato ended his 
Republic with a vision, he began his Politicus vi'ith a fable (of 
Saturn, &c.) p. 537- — After all this we may apply to this writer 
his observation on others : " What they learned was not from 
science but opinion 5 their life is an illusive dream, and before 
they awake tl^ey descend to Hades, there again to sleep for ever." 
Be Repub. lib. 7, p. 705. 

* He speaks of man's perfectibility as being one of the most 
unequivocal characteristics of the human species, Polit. Justice, 
vol. 1, p. Jl. Dub. edit. 

3 



Preliminary Discourse, 85 

in one respect infinitely superiour ; for the Utopia is 
a pleasing satire on the defects of men, while the 
other is a libel on human nature. 

In speaking of writers on false principles Montes- 
quieu is to be noticed. Beside his errours con- 
cerning climate, concerning the divisions of govern- 
ments, and various other errours and inadvertencies, 
he is materially defective as a philosopher by prin- 
cipling monarchies in honour, and republics in vir- 
tue. From whatever cause he adopted this posi- 
tion, whether from a taint of feudal prejudice, or 
from the necessity of not com^promising his safety 
and his wisdom, the various consequences he derives 
from it occasion many capital defects in his Spirit of 
Laws, and maiiy doubts and mistakes in it's readers. 

Yet he is not more inaccurate, in one respect, 
than Aristotle and Cicero, two men among the 
most celebrated of antiquity. This, though it does 
not lessen his defects, abates or divides the critic's 
censure. Montesquieu ^ has distinguished govern- 
ments into republics, monarchies, and despotisms. 
Cicero'' still more falsely, though he does not like 

* L' Esprit des Loix, liv. 2, c. I. 

* Respublica res populi cum bene ac juste gerltur, sive ab 
uno t^ge, sive a paucis optimatibus, sive ab universe populo. 
Cum vero injustus est rex, quem tyrannum voco ; aut injusti 
optimates, quorum consensus factio est ; aut injustus ipse po- 
ptrlus^ cui DQir.en usitatum nullum reperio, nisi ut etiam ip- 

G 2 



B4f Preliminary Discourse. 

Montesquieu make any deductions from it, calk 
that a republic, where the government is well ex- 
ecuted, whether by a king, or by a few chief men, 
or by the whole people ; and on the contrary he 
calls that a despotism, or a faction, or, for want of 
an authorized term, a tyranny, v.'here the public 
affairs are unjustly conducted. 

Aristotle ^ in like manner considers, that the 
diiterence between tyrants and kings, an oligarchy 
and an aristocracy, a democracy and a republic, 
depends on the excellence or the defects of their 

administration- whether they who rule make 

their own interest, or the good of the community, 
the object of their proceedings. If I could imagine, 
that Pope sought his opinions in Grecian literature, 
I should refer the following empty verses to an 
Aristotelian source : 

For forms of government let fools contest^ 
That which is best administer'd is best. 

What ! Shall we agree with the poet and the philoso- 
pher, that the goodness or badness of a government 
is extrinsic to it's lav/s and constitution ? I freely 

sum ty ran nil m appel-em. De Legib. lib. 3, p. 313, Diipuis 
edit. This is a translation of Plato. Politicus, p. 556. 

^ De nepub. lib. 3, c. 7. The chapter must be read entire- 
ly, that it's bearing may be understood: but in c. 18 of the 
same book he comprise;5 his opinion in a small compass : 
Avay'/.a,iov y.oirr-fjv siva.i, rr^y vito rwv apictcov or,(.ovoiJ.8[j.£yr^v, 



Preliminary Discourse. 85 

admit, that good ministers are necessary to good 
government : but by what miracle, or accident, 
are such men to be nominated to this trust, where 
the constitution is vicious ? It is a million to one, 
that good men shall administer a monarchy, or an 
oligarchy. I go farther, and affirm, that, if vir- 
tuous men were appointed by some inconceivable 
casualty to direct a corrupted ill-organized state, 
they must either resign their situations, or accom- 
modate their principles to the radical vices of the 
constitudon. 

I am sorry to differ from Charles Fox in an 
opinion which he has declared, and which materially, 
if true, not only affects m.y present, but some of my 
former and some of my succeeding observadons. 
He says \ " thai the reign of Charles the Second 
was the cura of good laws and had government ; 
and that an eminent ivriter had said, that at this 
period the constitution had reached the highest 
iJieoretical perfection^ luhile in it's administration it 
exhibited great practical oppression. Here we 
are then, he condnues, at the best moment of the 
best constitution, that ever human wisdom framed, 
but a time of great oppresssion and misery in covi- 
sequence of a corrupt administration, ivhich all the 
so much admired checks of the constitution ivere not 

> Introducllon to &:c. p. 2p, 21 , 22. 



S6 Preliminary Discourse, 

able to prevent. Hence he concludes, that it is a 
pernicious maxim, that measures not men should 
he attended to.'"' Certainly it is absurd to speak of 
measures, and not of men ; but this seems to me 
an irresolute conclusion from an assumption false 
and defeated by it's own statement. Whence does 
he assume, that the constitution was all wise, when 
at the same time he affirms the oppression and the 
misery with which those who administered it afflicted 
the people ? He says^ all the admired checks were 
unable to withhold the despotic temper of it's 
ministry. These checks, I have elsewhere shown, 
are spiders' webs, substantial but to the eye. You 
are to look to the constitution for the specific cause 
of the evils endured. Writers anc} speakers may 
dispute as much as they please about men and mea- 
sures ; but at this period the measures were corrupt, 
because the ministry was corrupt ; and the ministry 
was corrupt, because he v/ho formed it was corrupt : 
and who appointed the king ? The constitution, 
which makes the governor of the nation, and the 
author of it's ministry, the eldest son of the last 
king, without regard to ability or virtue. Surely 
no one can imagine, that such wretches as Charles, 
father and son, would have been calk-^d to the first 
office of the state, had not hereditary monarchy 
been the constitution of the land. No, it is not 
men or measures, or administration, but, as De 



PreUminary Discourse, 87 

Witt ' says, whom Fox^ calls " the wisest, best, and 
most truly patriotic minister, that ever appeared on 
the public stage," " a good government depends 
not on the virtues of it's rulers^ but on the consti- 

^True Interest of Holland, &c. ^ Fox's Hist. &c. p. 2/. 

*Fox evinces this by the following observation. Referring 
to Godolphin and Churchill being at one time mean, at another 
magnanimous, he says, '' In one case they were the tools of a 
king plotting against a people, in the other the ministers of a 
free government acting upon enlarged energies, which no state, 
that is not in some degree republican, can supply." p. 89. In 
the reign of the Charleses and of James, the government was 
hereditary, in William's it was elective. — I think that the his- 
tory of Charles Fox has been erroneously criticized. It is a 
fragment, and a fragment unprepared for the public eye by the 
writer. To pronounce on the whole plan, when only a section 
is exhibited, is obviously precipitate; and to censure some 
negligences of expression in the posthumous publication of this 
author, y'^o, in the works which he delivered to the world, 
committed no such oversights, is surely unjust. The imper- 
fections of this work are not attributable to Charles Fox, but 
to his death. Cicero proposed writing the history of his coun- 
try J as well might this critic draw up an accusation against the 
supposed errours of the intended work of Cicero, as that critic 
censure the plan of Charles Fox, aa ho has scarcely sketched 
the portico, which he intended should lend to the edilice. Mo- 
dern critics without reserve or delicacy censure blemishes in 
the language of an unfinisl.ed fragment -, How differently did 
the ancients treat their contertiporaries ! The eighth book of 
Thucydides they concluded he had not lived to complete, be- 
cause it is not as admirably executed as the preceding. The 
History of Fox has been also censured as being occasionally 



88 Preliminary Discourse, 

tution of the state, and the authority of the people.*' 
I should perhaps excuse myself for condemning 
this errour in the history of Charles Fox." I cer- 
tainly have not done it without some reluctance. 
But as I believe, that it is the most candid, the 
most feeling, the wisest and most liberal history, 
that genius, opportunity, patience, and truth con^ 
spiring together ever revealed to mankind, I speak 
on this point with less self reproach and dissatisfac- 
tion. I find fault with Fox in one instance, and in 
one instance only ; and I am persuaded, v»"ere he 
alive, he of all men living would bear my censure 
of himself with the most complacency. 

Neither can I acquit Bentham, though I do not 
impute the foregoing defects to him. For though 
his Treatises on Legislation admit metaphysics \ 
which I think ill-applied ; though his divisions are 
too subtle and numerous ; though his reasoning 
wants exemplification j and though the whole, from 
the unaffecting unattracting manner of the author, 
is suited to very few readers ; his works manifest a 

too lof^ical. Logic \vas the hab't and povv'er of this man. Why 
should we not have dialectic historians, as well as dialectic 
philosophers ? Let Fox stand chief among, these, as :- ume 
ranks first among the academical. Fox pursues his point 
through all it"s perplexities to it's conclusion. F ume discusses 
his -iubjict at large, '' and shadows, clouds, and darkness rest 
upon it." 

^Discours Prelim, p. l6, Traitcs de Legislat. ^:c. 



FreUminarij Discourse, 89 

methodical and a discriminating mind. I principally 
obiect to Beniham, that he has not prefixed to his 
Tracts on Legislation any viev/ of constitutional 
laws. Damont, his editor, accounts for this omis- 
sion by saying, that Benthani thought the best 
constirution for a people is that to which they have 
been accustomed. This I might have quoted on a 
former occasion, to prove how inveterately men are 
possessed by their habits, v/hen Bentham dismisses 
his writings into the world agreeably to such a pre- 
judice. 

With regard to a thousand other writers on law 
and politics ', some have Vvritten on the spur of the 
occasion, as Adams, according to his own vvords % 
wrote his treatise on republics in three large vo- 
lumes. Such avowed precipitation condemns an 
author much more than any critical disquisidon on 
his merits. 

Some again have written on these topics with a 
ponderous applicadon of Greek and Latin authori- 

^ Those who have written on particular parts of my subject, 
as Beccaria, so praised by many, and by none more than Bent- 
ham^ Traites, 8cc. t. l,p. 109, have no pretensions to render 
my labours unnecessary. 

* Vol.3, p. 503. His History of Republics is in effect a pre- 
face to his Answer to NeJham's Excellency of a Free State j a 
florid injudicious performance, and whatever reputation it may 
/)'ive in America, it has none with any party in England. 



90 Preliminary Discourse, 

ties, without order, without elegance, and without 
design. Such writers are commonly so pedantic 
in their admiration of antiquity, or so ignorant of 
succeeding times, that the last sixteen centuries are 
a blank; to their understanding. Others on the con- 
trary reject all that is ancient, as if it had been pro- 
nounced obsolete by time. They seem or pretend 
to think, that the states of Greece were formed in 
the infancy of political knowledge, and that their 
philosophers scarcely sat on the lowest forms in the 
school of science. No wonder then, that the reader 
is astonished at the ignorance and the infatuation 
displayed in every page of their writings. I do not 
think, that these, or any whom I have mentioned, 
even if they had exactly treated the same subject 
which I do, have precluded me, by the execution of 
their task, from resuming the same theme. 

It is obvious, that I have not made the foregoing 
observations on authors from a desire to raise myself 
comparatively by their depreciation ; and though 
the reason is not so obvious, which induces me to 
be thus transitory in my remarks on them, it is not, 
if I know my own motives and deserve credit, 
through fear of provoking hatred or retaliation ; but 
from a persuasion, that the positions and arguments 
of writers are better examined, and their errours de- 
tected, or their merits approved, in the body of the 
performance, as the subject affords an opportunity 



preliminari/ Discourse, 91 

for this or that purpose. Indeed the design and 
compass of this work, while they admit no cause 
for envy in their author, afford him frequent oc- 
casions to pass his judgement on others, as his sub- 
ject embraces all the great objects, that have em- 
ployed the most emment political writers : for, as I 
have said in the commencement of this perfurniance, 
I mean to include in it all that signally promotes 
inter aally and externally the strength, the happiness, 
and rhe prosperity of nations. 

in pursuing these considerations I mean also to 
speculate as Cicero proposed to do on the same 
subject'; and I hope with more truth, '* neither sub- 
jected to the pr^tor's edict, as is common at present 
with many ; nor to the twelve tables, as was custo- 
mary with the earlier writers ; but intimately, and 
from the recesses of philosophy, to extract the prin- 
ciples of justice." I mean to write unfettered by 
the laws or prejudices, which have been established 
in this or any other country. 

Yet I am most rejnote from intending, to write 
unsupported or unassisted by the abilities, the ex- 
perience, and the pracdce of many individuals, and 
various nations. 1 design, as far as my means and 
opportunides admit, to take advantage of all that 
history records, that travellers report, that legisla- 
tors have established, and that ingenious men have 

' Opera omnia^ t. 4, p, 342. 



92 Preliminary Discourse, 

submitted to the judgement of the inquisitive and the 
enlightened. So far am I from being disposed to 
compose fantastically, that it is rather my intention 
to connect corresponding portions of dispersed insti- 
tutions into one code. In this I follow the practice, 
would to God 1 could the success, of those ancient 
artists, who exhibited m^odels of the human form. 
Parrhasius^ said it was impossible to find one m.an 
free from all blemJshes: " We collect," said he, 
^^ from many the perfections of each, and then 
mould them into a perfect figure :" And thus we 
are told Zeuxis ' completed his painting of female 
loveliness, by selecting and blending together the 
fairest proportions of all living beauty. 

In pursuing my course I shall establish my prin- 
ciples, and trace their results, combinations, and 
ultimate consequences, equally unchecked and un- 
awed by the simple, the vicious, and the timid ; 
by those who cannot raise their apprehension beyond 
the existing nature of things 5 by those who with 

^Xenoph. Llemor. lib. 3, p. 781, Opera. Plato wished to 
adopt this design, as we may imagine from the following pas- 
sage. He says, that he had himself visited various places, that 
he studied their laws and institutions, and that he had never 
heard or seen any state which approached perfection j but that 
here and there a few things were w .11 established, though ge- 
nerally the whole was utterly defective. De Legib. lib. l^ 
p. 7/8. 

*Plinius, Hist. Nat. lib. 35, c. 9. 



Preliminary Discourse, OS 

insidious malignity revile, men's motives, and the 
tendency of their actions ; and by those who, while 
they read, behold in apparition the phantoms of 
their own morbid imagination. My; object is neither 
vulgar nor visionary.' I presume to call it practi- 
cable and philosophical, unless that which has been 
used and approved in different nations at different 
periods cannot have a contemporary and an equitable 
existence in the same state. 

After revolving this subject in every view, I can 
perceive but one apparent objection to treating it, and 
this singly regards the writer's personal satisfaction 
as an author. Such disquisitions are not now gene- 
rally relished by the public. The curiosity and the 
interest of society have taken different directions-; 
Every science and absurdity have their missionaries 
to collect materials for them, or to propagate their 
dogmas. Gmelin traverses Siberia on a botanical 
speculation : d'Auteroche investigates the same 
country on purpose to construct a mineralogical 
chart; and m.any others by this arduous route, 
and by ways not less formidable, transplant them- 
selves into the inhospitable country of the Chinese, 
to add another system of faith to their existing su- 
perstitions. 

With what preparation and pomp are men sent 
to the antipodes to obs^-rve the transit of a star, or 
the height of a mountain ! and with what desperate 



9ii Preliminary Discoursec 

zeal do individuals and companies embark theii* 
hopes and fortunes in some commercial venture ! 
But who are they, that make political knowledge 
their object^ whether to receive or to communi- 
cate it ? ■ 

Every art and profession has it's teachers, and it's 
institutions, except political philosophy ; and how 
many thousand books are written on topics compa- 
ratively and absoluteh/ frivolous for one written on 
this predisposing science 1 This was not a just cause 
of complaint among the Greeks. The reason is 
obvious. In the commonwealth of Greece men 
were personally interested in the affairs of their 
respective states. To learn political knowledge was 
to be taught their own concerns. We are not there- 
fore to wonder at the different pursuits of the cu> 
rious m after and preceding times ; many branches 
of learning, which are now carried to then- height, 
were by the ancients imperfectly known, or entirely 
neglected, while they cultivated the theory of laws 
and governm.ent with great zeal and corresponding 
success. 

This modern apathy toward pohtical philosophy 
is ominous, is lamentable. How mortified must be 
the sensations of Europe in this respect, when the 
British are dead to it's voice ! Indeed to be more 
remiss than the British is scarcely possible. For po- 
litical philosophy, and authorSj and readers apart. 



Preliminary Discourse, 95 

the legislature enacts the most momentous statutes 
with the utmost unconcern. I appeal to Reeves \ 
the historian of English jurisprudence : " that now, 
though a law for erecting a workhouse makes no 
small figure in the debates of parliament, an act 
for the amendment of the law in the most material 
instances slides through in silence." These are the 
words of this writer ; but he has not explained the 
mystery of his observation. Perhaps he thought it 
too manifest — the parliament is not popular, and the 
laws refer to the people. 

This apathy is discouraging to authors ; they 
must feel dissatisfied from the reflection^ that they 
probably write for few readers. Yet an individual 
may occasionally arise, who will esteem this general 
insensibility to such paramount considerations a 
motive to his enterprise. He will consider, that the 
greater difficulty there is to excite an interest for the 
reformation of laws and states, the greater v/ill be 
his glory, if he effect his purpose ; and great will be 
his satisfaction, should he contribute but remotely to 
the event. 

Thence I infer, that the solitary objection to treat- 
ing this subject is but apparent ; for this morbid in- 
sensibility of the public mind to matters of reform 
and renovation should inspire a humane temper 
with increased energy, and a more ardent spirit of 
* Preface, p. 9. 



96 Preliminary Discourse, 

enterprise, to conquer the adversityof circumstances^^ 
in hopes that, if his voice be soon heard, he may 
eHect much good ; or, if he should be disregarded 
at present, that he may hereafter prevent much evil, 
by rendering that fatal and deprecated crisis, \vhen 
society is dissolved, least disastrous in it's effects. 

In every other respect the time is obviously and 
eminently favourable for such a speculation. We 
can now compare the theories of modern with those 
of ancient philosophers, and both can be tried by 
their actual operation in the governm.ent of nations. 
Practices and customs, wliich were related by the 
early writers, we find explained, or refuted, or cor- 
roborated. Travellers and navigators have explored 
every region, and visited every situation of the 
globe. By various means the remotest portions of 
the Earth are in som.e m^easure brought within the 
familiar circle of our own neighbourhood. 

We are intim.ately acquainted v/ith every state of 
society ; the famished savage, who exists on berries 
and insects ; the wretch who resides on the shores 
of the ocean, and devours the refuse of it's waters ; 
those Vvho sink into the earth hke moles, and those 
who construct their places of refuge am.ong the 
branches of forest trees. The prowling Indians, who 
subsist by their bows; the hunting tribes^ who live 
by the chase ; the pastoral state in which men spend 
their summers on tlie banks of rivers, and remove 



Preliminary Discourse, 97 

on the approach of winter to the shelter of lofty 
mountains j we are acquainted with these, and all 
the improved situations of society, the agricultural, 
the civilized, and the philosophical. We are in- 
structed in the habits, the opinions, the laws, and 
the policy of the most savage, the most improved^ 
and the most singular nations. 

We have seen man in the remotest and the most 
insulated positions ; Europe has been traversed in 
all directions ; Africa has been penetrated by vari- 
ous ways ; and our vices and our virtues have ex- 
posed the recesses of Asia to our curiosity. Even 
China, a country the most inaccessible, and most ex- 
traordinary for population, antiquity, and institutions, 
that ever existed, is unfolded to our view. A new 
world has been discovered and destroyed, improved 
and abused, reduced to slavery and raised to free- 
dom, by the same motives. A continent has been 
peopled, and colonies sent to every point, from dif- 
ferent causes, and under various auspices. 

We have seen forms and combinations of govern- 
ment unknown and unimagined by our predecessors. 
We have seen improved constitutions, and read able 
commentators on them. We have seen the worst, 
and heard their advocatec. 

We have seen nations beginning, forming, and 
accumulating in strength and numbers by peace, 
and industiy, and toleration. We have witnessed 

VOL. I. H 



9S Preliminary Discourse. 

cdier nations, through lust of war, through prodi- 
gality public and private, and through despotism, 
abandoned to rebellions, to civil wars, and to revo- 
lutions. We have seen states curtailed, states par- 
titioned, and states annihilated. We have seen 
minute states rise from the wreck of others, and 
support their independence; and we have seen 
mighty states fight and fall, and the mightiest from 
the brink of ruin become omnipotent. 

The observation of this infinite vicissitude and 
alteration in the moral and political world fits the 
present time in a peculiar manner for such specula- 
tions. Yet beside all these fluctuations and subver- 
dons, the French revolution, which has occasioned 
internally and externally more disturbance and com- 
motion than any other event in the same space of 
time, also eminently adapts this period to disquisitions 
on laws and policy ; for so universal a convulsion will 
not cease without many throes and agonies, it will 
be attended with a long series of evils, similar to 
the original calamity, and coextensive with it's 
eflfects. 

Had there been any meditated scheme for good 
government in the French language, had the science 
of government been freely and fairly discussed by 
that people, surely so sagacious a man as Turgot 
could not have advanced the opinion, that the best 
government, which could be imagined, would be that 



Preliminary Discourse, 8>9 

in which all the authority was collected in one 
centre ^5 meaning, as Adams remarks % in a suc- 
cession of single sovereign assemblies. A mode of 
thinking and speaking disgraceful even to Nedham, 
who was among the first political reformers in mo- 
dern times, and consequently a novice in his pro* 
fession. 

I cannot think, that, had this science been fa- 
miliar in France, so abortive and ruinous an expe- 
dient as the national convention could have been 
adopted to rule that nation. The old government 
having sunk under it*s infirmities^ there was no 
other to supply it's place, no person to assist in the 
exigency. The knowledge of liberal legislation, it's 
pracdce, and it's principles, was so foreign to men's 
minds, that they were elected to legislate, and form 
a constitution, without preparation or design. Their 
first efforts in this profound science were actually to 
make themselves the creatures of their own experi* 
ments. They unfortunately came to their business 
totally ignorant. Their feelings were intense, their 
reason uninfluenced ; they had been oppressed by 
clergy, nobility, farmers general, kings, and mi- 
nisters ; and then taking counsel from their resent- 
ment, the only monitor left them by their masters, 
they inflicted remorseless vengeance on them all^ and 

* Lettre de Turgot; * History of Republics, vol. 1, p. 105. 

H 2 



100 Preliminary Discourse, 

adopted a scheme of government, it would seem, 
merely because it was most remote in form and spirit 
from that, which had been the cause of their op- 
pression. 

My principal objects are first to prevent revolu- 
tions by exposing abuses, and by explaining the 
means of their reformation ; and secondly to render 
revolutions less fatal, by appointing some standard 
as a rallying point to the broken and dispersed citi- 
zens of the community in this eventful crisis \ Far 
be from me the vain, overweening, wicked wish, 
to make a revolution, in order to practise my spe- 
culations (though it was Solon's opinion ^, that the 
king, who should change his monarchy into a com- 
monwealth, deserved the supremest glory ; which if 
true could not with justice be intirely denied to that 
citizen, who should forward such an alteration) : the 
height of my ambition merely aims at enabling men 
to profit by such misfortunes, when forced on them 
by the wilful perdition of their rulers. Unfortunate- 
ly such disasters frequently occur ; nor does it ap- 
pear by the conduct of ministers and potentates, 

* Polybius says the same of writing history — that one of it's 
principal objects is, to instruct those who may have it in their 
power to reform old states, or to found new ones. Lib. 3, 
c, 24. 

.« Plutarch, Septem Conv. &c. t. 2, p. 152. 



Preliminary Discourse, 101 

that the world is likely to remain for any length of 
time without such catastrophes. 

Before I am j udged, I require to be heard : an 
impartial hearing it would be vain to expect, for 
my subject and my disposition carry me to discuss 
many important points with that freedom^ which 
must offend the habits and the prepossessions of 
men, and which they think they are bound to up- 
hold by honour, by interest, and by all the motives 
that devote men to what they and their fathers have 
adopted with great admiration. Men's minds are 
so scribbled over in their infancy, that few of them 
can afterward bear an intelligible character. My 
vanity and presumption do not extend to be heard 
dispassionately. All that I dare claim is, to be heard, 
before I am condemned. But I deny, that I am to 
be judged by this or that system of laws and usages. 
I am neither writing a commentary on a particular 
code of established jurisprudence, nor pleading in 
a court of any particular jurisdiction. I am writing 
a treatise on the laws and constitutions of states, ap- 
pealing to reason for it's sanction, and to the customs 
and regulations of all nations in all ages when they 
conform to philosophy. 

It is my design to frame a system of government, 
which shall have for it's object the performance of 
equal justice to all the people submitted to it's di- 
rection j and which shall conform to the same im- 



103 Preliminary Discourse, 

mutable principle in it's transactions with foreign 
powers. In general, governments are so far impar- 
tial, that foreigners and natives are equally the vic- 
tims of their injustice ; and it has happened, that the 
best have paid little attention to justice in their treat- 
merit of foreign states, either in their laws, or in 
the execution of them. This manifests the infancy 
of political knowledge. The laws of states should 
do equal justice to all, who participate the same 
government ; and they should conform to the same 
duty in all their external relations. Justice to fel- 
low-citizens has been recommended by many, and 
some constitutions have not been unobservant of the 
advice ; but justice to foreign states in their con- 
duct has been seldom imagined, and never consti- 
tutionally avowed or pursued. This is a capital 
and an akrming defect, and in consequence I en- 
tirely agree with Fletcher of Saltbn \ who said^ '' I 
think mankind might be best kept from convulsions 
and misery by forming governments not as legisla- 
tors have hitherto done, as relating to a single so- 
ciety, but such as would be no less beneficial to our 
neighbours than ourselves." 

To attempt this purpose may be thought highly 
presumptuous in me. But it is only such presump- 
tion, as every man in some measure displays, who 
proposes improvements to society. In some re- 
'Political Works, p. 305. 



i 



Preliminary Discourse, 109 

spects at least I have not assumed an unwarrantable 
confidence in myself; for I believe few of my years 
have been more laborious in personally visiting the 
nations of Europe, in consulting the codes and con- 
stitutions of states, and in reading those writers, who 
have treated this science directly or indirectly in an- 
cient and modern times. 

I do not presume to trace an immortal govern- 
ment; or have I ever imagined, that, when I corrected 
others, I was faultless myself. But I am as free and 
disinterested as any man can be. My education 
was liberal, and I have not been idle ; my fortune 
is sufficient, and I know it ; I have nothing to hope, 
or to fear, from ministry or opposition, from coa- 
litions or schisms. I know none of their members; 
nor have I, though I live in good fellowship with 
all my acquaintances, ever confederated with any 
persons for any political purpose. Not that I would 
sit sullenly apart, were an honest cause proposed to 
me, and the time for action propitious. But these 
have not yet appeared. To be a partisan or a leader 
has hitherto been equally odious to me. I feel as 
did the Persian Otanes', who favoured an equal go- 
vernment, but, finding himself outvoted by those 
who preferred a monarchy, withdrew, saying. " I 
am averse either to command, or to obey." 

I repeat, that I appeal from particular codes and 
^ Herodotus, lib. 3, c. 83, 



104 Preliminary Discourse » 

circumscribed jurisdictions to philosophy. I repeat, 
that I desire to be heard before I am judged ; and 
though I do not expect an impartial hearing, it is 
to be remembered, that, as antiquity should give 
no prerogative to errour, novelty should be no pre- 
judice to truth. At all events, whatever be the ope- 
ration of my sentiments on men's minds with regard 
to themselves or myself, I am persuaded with Pla- 
to % and with Hume% who has perhaps unconsci- 
ously translated Plato's expressions, " that this sub- 
ject is the most worthy curiosity of any the wit of man 
can possibly devise," 

'Plato's words are : itoLvtwv fjiaXiffa. ifept yap t'ivos olv |u,aA- 
Aov 7fQXXa>iis tis vow £%wv %a/po; Ksyujv xai cckovwv, De Re- 
pub, lib. 2. 

* Hume, in his Idea of a Perfect Commonwealth, is dissa- 
tisfied with Bacon for approving the practice of the ancients, 
who deified the inventors of the arts, but who honoured legis- 
lators only as heroes and demigods. Essay 8th. The fact is, 
that the arts are invented in the infancy of society, and laws 
are drawn up in it's maturity, when the passion for making 
Gods has ceased. 



ON 

NATIONAL GOVERNMENT. 



DIVISION OF POLITICAL CONSTITUTIONS. 

Aristotle divides constitutions into democracy^ 
oligarchy, aristocracy, and monarchy ' : Hobbes % 
I think with greater exactness, into governments of 
one, of more, or of all. Perhaps it would be stiH 
more precise and intelligible, to say, into govern- 
ments by which one, or few, or many rule the 

^De Rhetor., lib. I, c. 8. Eschines divides it into monarchy, 
oligarchy, and democracy : in the first and second the will of 
the governors prevails, which is supported by arms j in the last 
the laws, and they are their own protection. In Timarch. 
p. 261. 

'^.Leviathan, part 2, c. 19. Plato divides governments into 
those of one, few^ and many ; Ivi, kcci oXiyois, •acci ntoKXoig. 
Politicus, p, 551 : and again p. 55y. But in the same tract he 
considers them under a five-fold division, p. 55Q -, in the next 
page he divides democracy, making government six-fold j and 
in p. 558 he talks of a seventh, which he distinguishes from all 
others (according to his theological practice) as God is distin- 
guished from man. 



105 Of Monarchy. 

state. I shall review these three sorts, considering 
each as singly the government : And first of mo* 
narchies. 

OF MONARCHY. 

Monarchies may be distinguished into three kinds. 
First, absolute monarchy, where a single person 
possesses the whole legislative and executive power 
of the state, as that by the Ottoman princes. Se- 
condly, where the power of one is supreme, but not 
absolute, as in the late government of France. The 
French king embraced in his own person the prero- 
gative of making and executing laws ; but he was 
in some measure controlled by the parliament, 
which often showed virtuous but ineffectual wishes 
to withstand the tyranny of the court ; by a nume- 
rous body of nobility, which formed a silent op- 
position to the universal pretensions of the monarch; 
and by the memory of ancient usages, not wholly 
extinguished among the literary ; but principally by 
the general diffusion of knowledge through the French 
nation and the nations of Europe. 

The third species of monarchy differs from the 
preceding rather in form than substance, which 
seems to be nearly the existing government in Great 
Britain. This may appear at first erroneous. But 
consider the circumstances, and it will be evident. 



107 



OF THE BRITISH MONARCHY. 

The king is hereditary ; he is lord of the soil ; 
he is one memter of the legislature, and appoints 
despotically whom he pleases, and in what numbers 
he thinks proper, to another, without regard to for- 
tune, family, or official service — a prerogative al- 
most unprecedented. He can also during the session 
of parliament take a member from the house of 
commons, and place him in that of lords, which 
even the king of Poland, though sole elector of 
members to the senate, according to certain quali- 
fications determined by law*, was not permitted to do 
by the constitution of that kingdom \ 

The king directs the third and remaining branch 
of the legislature by his endless and overpowering 
patronage. He is generalissimo by sea and land, 
and appoints absolutely through the whole naval 
and military departments. He appoints the bishops, 
who are his servitors ; and through them he holds 
the intire clergy in his train. This Coke calls his 
spiritual supremacy \ His reasons for the king being 
endowed with this prerogative are worth mention- 
ing : tkat^ " the kingdom of England being an ab- 

* Gotzlisl^e's Accomp. Senator, b. 2, c. 1. 

*Ibid, Preface, p. 4. During the session, no nuncio or repre- 
sentative from the provincial diets could be chosen a senator. 

* Reports, vol. 4^ fol. 9. 



108 Oftke British Monarchy. 

solute empire and monarchy^ the king, without this 
spiritual power, would be 7io monarch*^ 

The king appoints the judges, and in judgment 
of law he presides in the courts of justice. All of- 
fences are laid either against the king's peace, or 
his crown and dignity ' ; and thence, says Black- 
stone gravely, he has the power of pardoning 
offences, '' for it is reasonable, that he only, who is 
injured, should have the power of pardoning." 
He is also the prosecutor, says Blackstone*, for 
the same reason. — Thus the king is judge, and ap- 
points the judges; he prosecutes, judges, pardons, 
and executes. These numerous and contradictory 
powers, according to our lawyers, are wisely and 
necessarily possessed by the king. But change the 
person, and we find them embrace instantly different 
maxims. " The sheriff," says Blackstone, " is for- 
bidden to try any criminal offence ; for it would he 
highly unbecoming^ that the executioners of jus- 
tice should also he the judges ; should impose as well 
as levy fines % &cJ' 

The king by himself or his deputies appoints to 
all the civil offices of the state, in England, in Ire- 
land, in Scotland, in the East and West Indies ; 
and all ministers, placemen, reversionary grantees. 



^Blackstone, vol. 1, p. 269. * Vol. 4, p. 2. 

'Vol. 1, p. 344. 



Of the British Monarchy. 1 09 

pensioners, contractors, taxgatherers, and all that 
innumerable host down to followers and expectants, 
attend his will ; a nameless, countless host, not less 
so than the myriads of lost and abject spirits, that 
followed the fortunes of Lucifer in his fall from 
Heaven to Hell. In merely paying and receiving 
the revenue of the state the king's pow^r is enor- 
mous : for so excessive are the debts and expenses 
of government, that the inscription on the Chinese 
coin might be impressed on the English, " The 
money has it's course, and at length returns to the 
emperor'." 

It is also a principle of the constitution, that the 
king can do no wrong. Did this miserable absur- 
dity arise from the glorious confusion concerning 
the king and the law — the person of the magistrate 
and his office? as the irresponsibility of the Roman 
emperors arose from the prerogative of the first 
Csesars, who were legibus soluti^ that is, liberated 
from the observance of some laws, which sycophancy 
construed afterward, as does the English law, into 
the unlimited licentiousness of the prince. Thus 

*Du Halde, vol. 2, p. 29O. Let me here subjoin what re- 
gards a preceding remark in the same paragraph. Dr. Tennant 
observes, that the servants of the British government in India 
are little less numerous than those of the civil and military esta- 
blishment in Great Britain. 



no Of the British Monarchy, 

treason, which was a crime against the state in the 
Saxon times *, after the conquest was transferred to 
the king ; as the same crime, called majesty in the 
Romati law, was at first an offence against the Roman 
people, but afterward Augustus and Tiberius, who 
dubbed themselves tribunes of the people, by the 
rules of imperial reasoning applied it to themselves\ 
Let this prerogative have come to the king as it 
may, it is a maxim in the English jurisprudence, that 
the king can do no wrong % " that is, by virtue of 
his royal prerogative he is under the coercive power 
of no law,*' amenable to no jurisdiction. Nay it 
is held, that, if the right heir to the crown be at- 
tainted of high treason, yet the crown shall de- 
scend to him, and that instant the attainder be void. 
This appeared so absurd to Hobbes **, that, with all 
his predilection for arbitrary power, he could not 
help gibing at this miraculous operation by saying, 
that an inherited crown not only precluded a person 
from sinning, but washed the hlackmoor white. On 
which he puts a quesdon, suppose the heir apparent 
kill the king his father : Does not the law say, he 
can do no wrong ? he may violate the daughters of 
citizens, and dishonour their wives, in short he 
may commit in his own person all the crimes, for 

^Leg. Saxon., p. 55^ 103. « Tacitus, lib. 1, c. 72. 

' JSiackstone, vol. 4, p. 33. * Leviathan, part 1, c. 15. 



Of the British Monarchy. \lll 

which malefactors are fined, imprisoned, scourted, 
and capitally executed. Yet the law shall pronoijnce 
him immaculate. 

In his public capacity he is equally inviolable ; 
but his ministers may be impeached. And whatre- 
medy is this ? one man may suffer for another's 
crime ; the king may abandon the wretch he has 
ruined, or he may defeat the justice of the natiol[i, 
as did Charles the First ^, who, on the impeachmeit 
of Buckingham, dissolved the parliament. Su|- 
pose there be no such rash violation of justice by 
the king, what can be expected after the issue of 
the late impeachments ? 

I say then, that the king is inviolable directly and 
indirectly, in his public as in his private capacity : 
and that in consequence of his being himself one 
branch of the legislature, of his electing to thq 
second, and his directing the third ; in consequence 
of his naming the bishops, and commanding the 
church ; of appointing the judges, and controlling 
the law ; in consequence of his absolute power over 
the army and navy, and over all civil officers in 
every department of the state ; in consequence oi 
his receiving and disbursing the public revenue ; in 
consequence of his irresponsibility for all crimes ; 
in fine, in consequence of all his prerogatives, pa- 

* Hume's Hist. vol. 6, p. 222. 



112 Of different Arguments 

tronage, authority, and power, I call the govern- 
meit of Britain a monarchy. 

OF DIFFERENT ARGUMENTS FOR THE RIGHTS OF 
M0NARCH5. 

Unmitigated monarchy has few advocates; the 
French, and particularly the English monarchy, 
have many. If we review the arguments for this 
species of government, we shall be enabled in a 
considerable degree to appreciate it*s value. My 
observations apply to all sorts of monarchy, whe- 
ther absolute or not, but they will be more applica- 
ble as the power of the crown is more lawless and 
inordinate. 

It has been urged, that kings derive their power 
jure divino. or by God's creation, and this has been 
argued in different ways. Sir Robert Filmer says, 
that Hayward, Blackwood, and Barclay, whom he 
calls " the great vindicators of the rights of kings," 
were outdone by himself in the height of his argu- 
ment. His transcendental apprehension derives the 
title of kings from the order of God to Adam, 
which endowed the patriarch with authority over 
birds, beasts, fishes, and insects. Thus Adam was 
installed in royalty, and thus we are to date the pe- 
digree of man's everlasting subjection to kings from 
the creation. This it may be thought could have 
no adherents, and that it was too despicable, to at- 



for the Rights of Monarchs. 1 iS 

tract any attention. The contrary is the fact. Sydr 
ney wrote his Discourses, and Locke his Essay on 
Government, professedly against Filmer's Patriar- 
cha, and this wondrous tale of goodman Adam j 
and the inheritable monarchy derived from him from 
generation to generation was so greedily adopted by 
the clergy, that, to use Locke's words ^, " the pul- 
pit had made his doctrines the current divinity of 
the times.'* 

The dominion of kings by this argument stands 
thus. Adam received from God dominion over 
birds, beasts, fishes, and every living thing, that 
creepeth on the Earth j thence he had absolute power 
over his children in all the periods of their being, 
when they are infants and he is robust^, when he 
himself is decrepit and a driveller and they are 
strong in body and mind. Thence on his death his 
royalty descends to his eldest son ; thence to all 
kings ; thence kings have the same power over their 
subjects as Adam had over his children, and, as they 
owed implicit submission to him, all people owe im- 
plicit submission to them. This is the easy conca- 
tenation of Filmer's argument, his selfevident sorites. 
I do not know what were the preparatory studies of 
this champion of kings ; had they been the same 
as those of his clerical partisans, we might divine 
perhaps how the poor man became deranged. 

* Preface to his tract on Gov^avment. . 
VOL. I, 1 



114 Of different, Arguments 

This mystiGal argument for the divine authority 
of kings is of ancient origin ; it is not however so 
ancient as the Jev^rs. Monarchy was not among the 
ghostly prejudices of that people. I conceive, that 
it began about the time that Constantine beheld t-he 
miraculous cross. He, who gave a legal establishr 
ment to the clergy, could not receive less in grati- 
tude from them than the sanction of He?!j>:?|i. foy bif 
authoritv. . ;/ ^ 

Lest the foregoing induction for monarchy might 
grow dull from long and frequent; application to 
this lease of lives renewable for ever held by king$ 
of their monarchy from old Adam, other reasons 
have been occasionally invented to enliven the argu- 
ment. We are told in the New Testament for in- 
stance, thai all powQr is from God. Much dogma- 
tical reasoning has been derived from this expres- 
sion. But power is both well and ill exercised ; if 
then all power be derived from God, good and ^ad, 
bad kings are God's vicegerents^ that is to say, 
God is the author of evil ; which is blasphemous, 
and much more abominable than the Manichasan 
heresy. 

Others have held the same doctrine from motives 
somewhat less criminal, but little less injurious than 
Filmer and his favourers. These pretend, that, by 
deriving the authority of kings from God, they 
only give to human power a ghostly, sanction for it's 



for the Rights of Monarchs, 1 i ^ 

greater security ; that is, they made the church an 
engine of state, v/hich policy I shall in the second 
volume largely investigate. Whether it were from 
this motive, or from naked villany, that the states of 
France, according to Thomasius','had the propo- 
sition canonized, " that kings derive their authority 
immediately" from God,'^ I do not determine ; and I 
leave in the same doubt Hoadley's opinion^ who, in 
defence of Hooker, says, " that all kings, but such 
as are immediately named by God himself, have 
their power from human right only 5 though after 
human composition and agreement the lawful choice 
is approved by God, and obedience required to him 
by divine right.'* 

We are obliged to Burke for another argument 
corresponding to the former in it's effect. He says* 
in his animadversions on Sacheverel's trial, " that 
he proceeds to show, that the whig managers for 
the commons meant to preserve the government on 
a firm foundation by asserting the perpetual validity 
of the settlement then made^ and it's coercive power 
on posterity." I venture to affirm, that the speeches 
pronounced by the managers on that trial, under 
whatever denomination they are known, do no ho- 
nour to their independence. Their conduct before 
the revolution had been decided, their language 

»Instit. Jur. Div. lib. 3, c.6, s. 68. 
*^ Pag. 444. ^Appeal &G. p. 69. 

I '2 



i 16 Of different Arguments ''■^. 

afterward was equivocal, it was virtue making peace 
with vice, it was rectitude conciliating artifice, it 
was wisdom compromising the cause of liberty and 
truth with prejudice ^d errour. 

But are the whigs ancient or modern to be con* 
sidered by us like tiie first principles of science ? 
Let the whjgs of one day legislate for those of 
another, but why are their opinions, like some sacred 
documents, to be the test of pohtical orthodoxy? 
Yet this is one of the chief purposes, for which 
Burke quotes their sentiments. 

In the course of this argument he avers^, *' that 
the constitution of a country being once settled 
upon some compact, tacit or expressed, there is no 
power existing of force to alter it,, without the 
breach of the covenant, or the consent of all the 
parties.'' Thence he infers, that the whig members 
of parliament, who at the revolution constituted a 
majority, by putting into the covenant ''for us and 
our posterity for ever^'* included all their posterity. 
Nay much more, he asserts, that these individuals, 
who had been elected in the ordinary way to legis- 
late, and who constituted only an inconsiderable 
fraction of the people, determined irrevocably the 
rights of all the citizens in Great Britain for ever. 
Suppose that all the people of Britain gave their 
voice in their ovi'n persons for the transactions at 
the. revolution, by what authority did they presume 



i 



for the Rights of Monarch, 1 1 7 

to bind everlastingly their descendants ? Such innu* 
endoes in laws as " posterity for ever," " our heirs 
and successors/' are not legislative but testamentary ; 
and they who employ them, beside other absurdi* 
ties, presume to have a property in the rights of 
free citizens yet unborn not less absolute than mas- 
ters over their slaves, and the most savage barbaric 
ans over their helpless children. 

The assertion of Burke, by which the sophister 
would bind succeeding generations everlastingly in 
the verbal fetters of their ancestors, exactly corre- 
sponds with an observation of Hobbes, to whom I 
have already compared Burke's sentiments on go- 
vernment. Burke's words I have quoted in the 
foregoing paragraph, those of Hobbes follow. 
" When a multitude covenant with a man, or an 
assembly, to govern them, they cannot make a new 
covenant among themselves to be obedient to any 
other without his or their permission'." The sequel 
of their observations on this particular also coincides. 

Burke calls those, who say that the sovereignty 
resides in the people, and that they have the power 
of altering their constitution^ infamous flatterers" ; 
and he condemns any such pretensions in the people 
as being a contempt of faith, and truth, and justice^. 
In the same spirit Hobbes reprobates the Greek and 

^Leviathan, part 2, c. 18. 

* Appeal &c. p. 56. 'Ibid. p. q6. 



118 Of different Arguments 

Roman writers for their generous sentiments in fa« 
vour of liberty, calling them rnad dogs, who infect 
by biting ^ 

Where is this tacit or express compact, by which 
the will and intelligence of men are foreclosed for 
ever ? Romances are built on fictions that may b© 
true 5 the indefeasibility of the British monarchy on 
a fiction that must be false. 

But for the sake of argument, who are the con- 
tracting parties in this notable compact ? A stadt- 
holder of Holland, and the people of Great Britain 
-^an elector of Hanover, and the people of the 
same empire ; that is, one man contracts with 
twelve millions, he for his eldest son, and his son's 
eldest son, and so forth, and they for themselves 
and all their successors. The validity of a contract 
in law frequently depends on the value of the equi- 
valent. What does the king relinquish ? positively 
nothing, he continues stadtholder or elector. What 
does he gain ? Rather what does he not gain ? 
What do the people of Great Britain gain ? Was 
no man to be found capable of ruling the English 
nation except George the First ? What then did the 
British people gain by submitting themselves to that 
stadtholder or this elector ? What have they lost ! 
For more than a century they have been moored 
under the sedgy shores of Holland, or stranded on 

* Leviathan^, part 2, c. 29. 



for tke Rights of Mondrchs. 1 19 

IM stilds of Hanover, and the honour and interests 
of the British empire have been sacrificed to a nar- 
row barren spot of Germany, to it's degraded 
people, and to it's stupid politicians, 

Burke's fastidiousness is oiFended at the king 
being called a public servant, and this he attributes 
to modern innovators. Why Ben Jonson' calls " a 
good kmg a public servant ;" and James the First 
styled himself " the great servant of the common- 
wealth/' 

Burke labours to discountenance a position bi 
Price, that the king owes his crown to the choice 
of his people. He would derive his right to royalty 
from some superiour title. I shall merely observe, 
that this was advanced by Hobbes, who affirmed, 
thatj " to say any monarch receiveth his power by 
covenant, that is to say on conditions, proceedetli 
from want of understanding, &c/' The remainder 
of the paragraph may be seen in the eighty-eighth 
page of his Leviathan, to which work I refer those, 
who admire Burke's politics, as it must afford them 
great satisfaction. 

Burke is extremely offended at some expressions, 
which intimated, that the king might be deposed 
for misconduct. So early at least as Bracton"" this 
doctrine in some measure was profess^ 5 " there can 

* Works in Prose, vol. 4, p. 267. 

*Plowden*s Translation in Jura Angloram, p. 310, 



120 Of different Arguments 

be no king, where arbitrary will rules, and not 
law," says that writer. By this it appears, that a 
king by lawless conduct deposed himself; and 
Locke* says, that the oath of fealty arid allegiance 
to the supreme executive is nothing but obedience 
according to law^, which when he violates he has no 
right to obedience. Locke adds, that, when he 
acts by his own private will, he degrades himself, 
and is but a private person, without power, and 
without will. This of course is in direct opposition 
to Burke, who says, that the king is perfectly ir- 
responsible^ That Burke should express senti- 
ments on government directly hostile to so discrimi'^ 
nating and liberal a writer as Locke is consequential. 
But it is somewhat strange, that Messieurs du Port 
RoyaP should deliver opinions contrary to Burke. 
They write, that a king is responsible to his people. 
Here we have a corporation of monks liberal and 
enlightened, while an overweening representative of 
the people damns the people to everlasting slavery, 

Burke, having pronounced the king irrespon- 
sible, adds, • - that^ at the revolution, in order to 
lighten the crown still farther, they aggravated the 
responsibility of ministers.'' This I suppose is 

^On Government, b. 2, s. 151. 
* Reflections &c. p. 39. 
^Education d'un Prince, c. I) s. 3, 



for the Rights of Monarchs, 121 

among the many points, to which the same author 
alludes, when he says\ *' that the advantages of 
the British constitution may be pointed out to wise 
reflecting minds, but is of too high an order of ex- 
cellence, to be adapted to those that are common/' 
This is the very cant of priests and mystagogues. 
I have already shown the value of the responsibility 
of ministers in the present system. 

I should not notice, that the position concerning 
the king's irresponsibility was agreeable to the so- 
phistry of Hobbes, if Burke and the inveterate lan- 
guage of the monarchy or it's advocates did not 
exceed even the audaciousness of Hobbes; for 
Hobbes, though he says, " that the sovereign may 
commit iniquity, but not injustice, and that he can- 
not be punished by his subjects,'* affirms, " that 
limited kings are not sovereigns, but ministers of 
those who have sovereign power*." Burke therefore 
infinitely exceeds Hobbes, who was thought to have 
carried the doctrine of despotism to an unrivalled 
excess ; for Burke calls the king sovereign in con- 
formity to the law, which, he says, neither insults 
nor flatters^. What, the law no flatterer ! The 
law says, the king can do no wrong, think no 

'Appeal &:c. p. 138, 

* Leviathan, part 2, c. 28. Palcy calls the legislative Xxi^y 
the sovereign. Essays, vol, 2, p. J 8.5. 
'Reflectiops &c. p. 41. 



1 22 Of different Arguments 

wrong ^ ; this immaculate purity Milton dares not at- 
tribute to his celestial natures, " For evil/' says 
the poet^ " into the mind of God or man may- 
enter.** The law, if taken in the sense in which 
Burke takes it, is worse than flattering, it is blas- 
phemous. 

According to Burke, the king may perform every 
crime, act and react every atrocity ; he may even 
add perjury to his other crimes^ for he swears to 
preserve the laws of the land ; yet shall the people 
be morally unable to resist his violations of law and 
equity, according to this archsycophant, "until it he* 
comes a cause of tvar, and not of constitution^ &c. 
— until he has subverted the protestant church and 
state, and the unquestionable laws and liberties of 
the nation. How providential were the covenanters 
of this glorious constitution, who left to their de- 
scendants necessity to direct them ! and how kind 
is it's champion, who says to the people. When your 
rights and liberties are subverted, you may resist ; 
that is, When your hands and feet are fettered, you 
may arm in your defence. I am curious to know in 
what practicable or beneficial view this doctrine dif- 
fers from divine indefeasible right and nonresistance; 

^Blackstone, b. 1, c. 7. This equals the loyalty ©f Arta« 
bantis the Persian : Titxav ^oco-tXsa. xai ffp&cycwsiy st-aovo- <B£8 rs 
TOi Tfavra a-uo^ovfo^. To honour tht king as the image of Go(^ 
^-the preserver of all things. Plutarch^ Themis tocles. 



for the Rights of MonarcJis, 123 

in the latter, the submission of the people is de- 
clared to be absolute ; in the former, the people may 
resist, but not until human nature can no longrer 
endure the excruciating and merciless despotism of 
royalty. 

Yet shall we be told, that the British government 
is not an absolute, but a limited monarchy. " I 
have no idea of a limited monarchy, which hath no 
right to defend it's limitations/' said that Russel, 
whom a king and his ministers murdered. The 
king is authorized by the silence of the law on one 
side, and his declared irresponsibility and perfection 
on the other, to act as he pleases. With this prero- 
gative, and all his endless and accumulated powers, 
what must be the constitution of the state ? Had I 
not proved, that the English government approaches 
absolute monarchy, would not the bare recital of 
this prerogative teach us to draw a dreadful con- 
clusion ? Has sycophancy so possessed every Bri- 
tish bosom, that all or any one believes, that, with 
the means of becoming absolute, our kings, reared 
amidst German despots, or descended from them, 
should forget the prejudices and the practices of 
their family and their education ? Surely not. Were 
England as free as freedom herself, were the here- 
ditary magistrate called king educated liberally 
among it's citizens, vv'hy should it be presumed, 
that he would prefer the people's liberty before his 



124 , Of different Arguinents 

owrv dominion ? Such is not the nature of man en« 
dued with power, and least of all of men invested 
with royalty. I have now considered the strongest 
arguments of the ablest advocates for the rights of 
monarchy, and principally those of that man who 
|ias many admirers, of Burke, who lived rejected 
and poor when he defended the cause of liberty and 
the people, but who on his apostasy became among 
the most cherished friends of government, and the 
best provided pensioners of the crov/n. 

OF DIFFERENT ARGUMENTS FOR THE SUPERIOUR 

ADVANTAGES OF MONARCHY A^^D THEIR 

ANSWER. 

It is said, that monarchies are more quick at de- 
ciding. But when was it proved, that a precipitate 
decision is generally the best ? It is said^ that mo- 
narchies decide with more secrecy. Is there no su= 
spicion against what dare not be avowed ? . secrecy 
is allied to subterfuge, and subterfuge to fraud. 

I have heard and seen it asserted, that monarchs 
are more certain in their deliberations, and more 
determined in their purposes. The reverse how- 
ever Sallust' has enumerated among the infirmi- 
ties characteristic of monarchy. 

' Sed plerumque regiae voluntates uti vehementes sic mobiles^ 
isepe ipsse sibi advergae. De Bello Jugurth, p. 155, 



for the Advantages of Monarchy. 125 

Dion Cassius^ prefers monarchy, because, he 
says, it is easier to find one good man, than many. 
Suppose it to be so ; in a monarchy how is thi© 
good man to be found ? Is it by inheritance^ the 
common mode by which monarchs are appointed ? 

Hobbes"* says in favour of monarchy, that, as a 
monarch's private advantage can only arise from the 
riches, strength, and reputation of his subjects, he 
must be more disposed to administer the nation's 
affairs with prudence, than those who govern under 
any other title. 

Suppose that a monarch is most truly inclined to 
serve his people ; take Lewis % who was crowned 
king of Poland in 1 370, who used to disguise him- 
self in order to learn his own character from the 
people, and the effects of his administration on 
them, and consequently to be apprised how he 
might correct the errours of both. Were there 
many such monarchs ? and are we thence to con- 
clude, that monarchy is the best government ? How 
little can this extraordinary man personally eEect I 
With the best talents, the warmest affections, the 
most indefatigable assiduity, he can perform little 
in a vast empire. Act as he may, he must devolve 
the national business on certain ministers, who must 
again delegate his authority through many stages 

' Lib. 44, Xiphilin. p. 25. * Leviaihnn, part 2, c. J 9. 

^ Florus Polon. lib. 2, c. 20. p, i^io. 



126 Of different Arguments 

and gradations to the last retailers of his power. A 
monarch must often feel his inadequacy to his sta- 
tion in what relates properly to his own department. 
Adrian^, putting a woman's petition away, said, I 
have not leisure. Not leisure! replied the suppliant, 
then why do you govern? How badly therefore 
must the substitutes of his dominion execute their 
trust ! for let it be remarked, that the miseries 
arising from despotism are ever more afflicting^ as 
it's ministers and officers are farther removed from 
the despot. 

If the government of Catharine'' were tderable 
within the immediate sphere of her influence, all 
know, that beyond this it was arbitrary and oppres- 
sive in the extreme. 

But suppose with Hobbes, that a monarch's pri- 
vate advantage is the prosperity of his people : does 
it follow, that he will adopt measures to advance or 
secure their happiness ? Can a monarch be more 
personally interested in the improvement of his sub- 
jects, than a master planter in the West Indies in 
the abihty of his stock and the produce of his farm? 

^■Xipbirm. Epit. p. 11. A similar anecdote is told of an old 
woman and Demetrius. Plutarch, Demetrius. Moses, who 
according to som.e was appointed by God, (2 Esdras, c. 1,) 
t« govern the Hebrews, was obliged to associate seventy elder* 
with himself to assist him, c. 11, ver. l6. 

* Memoirs of the Court of Petersburgh, voL \, p. 8/* 



^fo7' the Advantages of Momrcky, 127 

Their relative situations are nearly identical. What 
then is the uniform observation concerning those, 
who pursue different modes in the management of 
their farms ? It is established, says Brougham, 
whose subject led him to be particularly conversant 
with this topic, that the most unprofitable planta- 
tions are not the most unfruitful and ill situate, but 
universally those, which are cultivated by negroes 
who are subjected to a cruel and stingey system ; 
that the most laborious duty is |>erformed by the 
best fed and most indulged slaves; and that the 
more nearly the negro approaches the condition of 
a free citizen in his enjoyments, his privileges, and 
his habits, the greater alacrity he shows in perform- 
ing the task assigned to him. Yet, continues this 
author^, in spite of this undeviating experience, so 
few trials have been made of a mild and profitable 
system of economy, that those plantations, into 
which it has been introduced, are pointed out as 
remarkable. 

If such be the practice of a master, whose sola 
object is profit, and who immediately and alone re- 
ceives whatever advantages may be derived from an 
improved management, what extreme absurdity 

^Colonial Policy, vol. 2;, p. 454. Plato justifies niv com- 
parison. He says^ that the only difference is, that one governs 
many, and the other a multitude : ro koaX'jov ot^yjiv ^ia.<^£:i$ 
h to cKSivov TtXrfio;. Dc Repub. lib. Q, p. /vS'Z, 



12S Of different Arguments 

would it not be to imagine, that greater tenderness 
and attention should be exercised by those, who do 
not expect the same immediate advantage, and 
whose interest from such conduct is comparatively 
incidental 2nA remote ! 

Were there any truth in the observation of Hobbes 
in favour of monarchy, we could always know the 
best governed country by ascertaining the most ab- 
solute* According to this touchstone, Spain would 
be better governed than France, I speak of what 
preceded the French revolution ; and Turkey than 
either. Yet the reverse is precisely the fact. The 
sultan claims his right over his subjects by conquest, 
he is sole proprietor of all real and personal pro- 
perty in his realm', he is the common heir, and he 
abstains from his universal right of inheritance only 
by compounding with the children of the deceased. 
The same ruinous prerogatives under different or 
similar appellations are the glory of all monarchies, 
modified however as the spirit of domination is 
more or less intense in the monarch and his mi- 
nisters. 

What] monarchs regard the interests of the 
people ! They have no feelings but selfishness ; and 
so far as their fears permit them, they sacrifice all 

' Propriete fonciere et mobiliere, Volney^ Vojago en Syrie, 
&c. t. 2, p. 258. 



for the Advantages of Monarchy, 129 

things to their caprice. A Cappadocian king inun- 
dated a country adjoining the Euphrates^, to amuse 
his childish passion of seeing small isles peering 
through the flood ^ Our early monarchs swept 
away villages, and reduced cultivated lands to their 
native wildness, that they might gratify their bar- 
barous passion for hunting. Yet are these viola- 
tions, which reduce fruitful territories to marshes 
and forests, of small importance, when compared 
with those numerous acts of monarchy, that make 
a wilderness of the human mind. 

Monarchs regard the interests of the people ! 
Their minions are their only people. Ask, How 
are these recommended to the rulers of the Earth ? 
By being parasites, by abetting their tyranny, by 
administering to their lewd and proiiigate pleasures, 
or to their infantine follies. From such motives they 
shall be raised to power, and they shall participate 
the empire, as did De Luynes, v/ho became prime 
minister to a French king from his expertness in 
teaching hawks to fly at little birds, and these again 
to catch butterflies'^. 

' Strabo, lib. 22. 

* Herbert's Life of himself, p. 134. Such qnalities recom- 
mended Albevoni. *' Barni, oppressed with langaor and list- 
lessness, was looking about for relief, when Alberoni arrived. 
JNo one excelled him in vivacity and buffoonery, and he seemed 
intended by nature for what Monsignor Barni wanted." 
Moore's Lives of Alberoni and Ripperda, 
VOL. I, K 



130 Of different Argiimenis 

It is an insult to the supernatural pretensions of 
monarch? to suppose, that they should feel a lively 
interest in the happiness of the people. What ! 
the potentates of the Earth, deriving their title from 
their svv^ord, or from Heaven, and quartering the 
attributes of God in their ensigns, regard the people, 
the plebeian herd ! The prosperity and comfort of 
these are the last of their considerations. How 
many thousands are yearly sacrificed on the field of 
battle to their senseless ambition ! How many mil- 
lions of money, and how much labour and industry 
are employed in burning incense before the shrine 
of their pleasures ! In Persia alone hov/ m.uch was 
devoted to adorn the monarch's wife ! One province 
was called the queen's girdle, another the queen's 
veil, because such districts were charged with pro- 
viding such portions of her attire ; and thus An- 
thilla in Egypt was appropriated to supply the 
royal v/ardrobe with sandals'. 

Monarchs have neither the disposition, nor the 
power, to apprehend the advantages of the people. 
They see through the distorted vision of others ; 
they are the dupes of sycophants, of intriguers, of 

w s, and their confederates. For examples of 

the predominance of the latter imps I refer the 

^ Herodotus, lib. 2, c, 98. See Plato, 3st Alcibiades, p. 442, 

for the appropriation of provinces to provide the queen's wardr 
robe. 



for the Advantages of Monarchy, 131 

lovers of monarchy to Marmonters Memoirs ^^ and 
St. Pierre's Foiysynodie*. 

Monarchs are the victims of flattery, the most 
tommon and the most grateful of all the offerings 
of idolatry. It is of such a nature, that the most ex- 
travagant neither satiates nor disgusts. Stratocles 
proclaimed a law at Athens, purporting, that what- 
ever king Demetrius desired should be a law to 
Gods and men ^ : and the spokesman of the French 
government to the Jewish Sanhedrim a little while 
ago required them, to answer certain questions to 
him ivho knoivs all things* ; not meaning God, but 
Bonaparte, for this late created monarch feeds as 
foully on flattery, as if a crown had been impressed 
en his rattle. 

Should a monarch be disjposed to do good, should 
he be disposed to redeem his errours, flattery de- 
feats both these intentions : virtue and repentance 
are equally counteracted by it. Nor is it th^ 
meanest persons^ I should say of the meanest pro- 
fession and character, that admiriister this poison. 
Alexander having killed Clytus, the sophist^, to 

^T. 2, p. 33. ^Pdlysynodie, c. 10. 

^ Plutarch, in Demetrio. 

* Nihil est quod credere de se non possit> cum laudatur dis 
aequa potestas. 

^Arriati, Alexand. Exped. lib. 4, c. g. Plutarch says, 
that the sophist's name was Anaxarchus. Plutarch, Alexander. 
J'lattery ruined Alexander. He slew Clytus becausQ he was 

K 2 



132 Of different Arguments 

make his court to the royal assassin, said, that he 
wondered why the ancient sages always placed jus- 
tice on the side of Jupiter, unless to intimate, that 
whatever was done by Jupiter was therefore just. 
Is this the precedent for the adulation of Burke 
and the English law to the king ? or is it the same 
spirit operating in similar circumstances ? 

Flattery is administered by the meanest and the 
ablest men. It disgraced the name of sophist, 
when that name was reputable, as I have shown by 
the conduct of Aristarchus to Alexander. It dis- 
graced the name of philosophy and literature by the 
conduct of Seneca, who composed an elaborate 
epistle to the senate for Nero, to justify Nero's par- 
ricide. I must however remark, out of respect to 
human nature, that, when Caracalla required Pa- 
pinian to perform a similar office, the lawyer an- 
swered, that it was easier to murder a brother, than 
justify the act\ This deed of Papinian is greatly 

honest, and Callisthenes because he was wise. For the same 
reasons Aratus was slain by Philip. To one who saw him con- 
vulsed with poison he remarked, '"'■ Such is the friendship 
of kings !" Polybius, lib. 8, c. 4. Plutarch, Aratus. We 
might conclude this with a reflection of Ferishta, *' proving 
that proverb, There is no confidence in princes." Hist, of 
Dekkan, vol. 1, p. 376. 

^ Hist. August, p. S8. Spartianus says, that Papinian could 
not have made any such speech, and that he was put to death 
for favouring Geta. Caraca-lla, c. 8. 



k 



for the Advantages of Monarchy, 1S3 

celebrated : to resist being an accessary after mur- 
der, when the king is the assassin, is recorded as 
an exploit of immortal glory. 

Flattery is essential to monarchy ; nor do I know 
a more striking instance of it's operation, than the 
conduct of the Lacedemonians^ whose kings, 
though extremely limited in their power, were on 
their death greatly lamented by the people. They 
displayed on this occasion an ostentatious sorrow, 
and the burden of the dirge was, that the last king 
was the best'. This practice^ beside being most 
opposite to their general character, directly offended 
a particular custom ; for, according to Plutarch% 
they praised the ingenuous after death, and made 
the vicious the object of their censure. 

So necessary is adulation to monarchies, that 
most of them have established officers to chant the 
king's praises in the king's ears, in Europe, in 
Africa, in Asia. It is true, rhyming encomiasts 
are classed by the laws of Brahma with suborners- 
of perjury^ : yet what were those, who sang: before 
Attila his victories and his virtues^ those whom 
Brown mentions in his Travels in Africa', and those 
whom lord Macartney heard at the Chinese court, 

'Herodotus, lib. 6, c. 58. ^Plutarch, t. 2, p. 238. 

•Sir Wm. Jones's Works, vol. 3, p. 141. 
*EKcerp. Hist, Pres. Rhetor, apud Byzant. t. I, p. 45. 
*P. 213, 



1 S4 Of different ArgumenH 

hailing in measured strains the anniversary of Kien? 
long's first illustration of the Earth ? What wera 
those bards, who attended the courts of princes 
among our ancestors ; and that remnant of them, 
the poet laureat of Great Britain ? Some of the 
official flatterers paid to harmonize with false praise 
the monarch's ear. 

As kings are debauched by the adulation of their 
courtierSj they in their turn ruin them and their 
subjects by their example : for this is the nature of 
monarchy, that it's vices are pregnant with destruc- 
tion. As famine causes disease and death, and as 
the dead and dying scatter mortal infection among 
the still surviving remains of society, the vices of 
monarchy are received and communicated in all di- 
rections by all individuals, till the lowest subject, 
according to his pitiful means, is as corrupt as the 
greatest prince. 

The king's example is a powerful instrument in 
this miserable confederacy of vice ;. for, whatever 
be the royal lust, that it becomes all loyal subjects 
to imitate. When Alexander^ sunk into supersti- 
tion, the court swarmed with priests and devotees. 
When Charles of France massacred thousands on 
thousands of protestants, so extreme was the cour- 
tesy of those, who sought the royal confidence, 

* Plutarch, Alexander. 



for the Advantages of Monarchy, 135 

that the historian Davila* not only admires the act, 
but exceeds in zeal the sanguinary monarch. Thus, 
when Lewis the Fourteenth revoked the edict of 
Nantz, it was reputed the most glorious exploit of 
his all-glorious reign ; and I doubt not, should 
another king be smitten with adverse prejudices in 
after times, and act the partisan of his protestant 
subjects against catholics and dissenters, ministers 
who dare rule the nation would be found, that 
would unsay their words", disclaim their sentiments, 
and this flattery would descend from them through 
all stages of society to thehalf-clothed rabble, who 
infest the streets. 

The effect of his example is not confined to the 
king's superstition, it operates strongly whatever be 
the infirmity of the monarch. Is he licentious in 
his amours, so are his subjects ; even the im- 
potent shall pretend to pruriency, as did lord 
Shaftsbury, who^ Chesterfield says% insinuated 

' Elisor's Independent Man^ vol. i, p. 441. 

* As did the present ministers. What would have been Ti- 
mur's opinion of them ? He wrote : *' And by my experience 
it is known unto me, that those are worthy to be counsellors, 
who steadfastly adhere to that which they say, and to that 
which they do." Instit. of Timur, p. 13. 

^ Letters, vol. 4, p. 24. So of drunkenness : *' The people, 
copying the example of their prince, studied nolhitig but dis- 
sipation. Reverend sages pawned their decent robes at the 
wine cellars j and holy teachers, quitting their cells, retired to 



136 Of differ erd Arguments 

himself into the favour of Charles the Second by 
aiTectmg a passion he could not feel. Does a Ca- 
tharine keep men\ the aspiring ladies of the court 
have their pensioned domestic paramours, and this 
profligacy becomes the highest mark of fashion 
throughout the empire. In this manner do persons 
submitted to monarchy conciliate the monarch's fa- 
vour, and some imitate for the same purpose royal 
practices, that it would be pollution to relate. So 
base is the flattery to kings, so corrupting their ex- 
ample, so flagitious their service, singly or generally 
considered, that their ministers, courtiers, and at^ 
tendants endeavour to exceed them in their pro- 
fessed vices, and to outdo them in their violations of 
honour and equity ; according to the Persian pro^ 
verb. If a king pluck an apple in a subject's garden^ 
Jiis servants ^i\\ surely root up the tree^ 

the taverns, and presided over the cask." Ferishta, vol. 1^ 
p. 1 18. So of duelling. Ahmed Shaw was the author of duel- 
ling, according to the same historian. He says, '' that this 
prince was skilled in the sword, and delighted much in the 
science. Accordingly, as is ever the custom, the people being 
ever eager to copy the prince, both high and low devoted them- 
selves to it" (duelling). He relates some consequences of 
this shocking custom from his own knowledge : but he mis- 
takes in saying, '' this detestable practice never existed in any 
other country." Vol. 1, p. 357. 

^ Memoires secretes sur la Russie^ t. 2, p. 129. 

« Pers. Kosar. 



I 



for the Advantages of Monarchy, 137 

Melancholy is the state of a monarch's rule. Sus- 
picious and envious, it prevents good from being 
performed by it's substitutes. Agrippa dared not 
prosecute his victory, lest he should excite the 
jealousy of Augustus' ; and Galba, lest he should 
afford cause of complaint, sunk into absolute sloth, 
saying, that his supineness could not be questioned^. 
It prevents good from being executed hj any one ; 
for, should an individual so transgress, he shall be 
marked as treacherously intending to win the people's 
affection from the prince. This was exemplified in 
the person of Helvidius Priscus : " The first day of 
his glory," says Tacitus^, '' was the date of his de- 
struction.'* 

Monarchs counteract justice and law, and it 
sometimes happens, that, when they regard the 
law they aggravate their enormities. Thus, Tibe- 
rius, as it was contrary to the Roman jurisprudence 
that virgins should be strangled, in respect to it's 
injunctions ordered them first to be abandoned to 
the executioner's lust, and then executed \ 

^ Xiphilin, p, 53. He frequently lamented the disposition of 
princes, and the dangerous situation of those who administerecl 
their atFairs. 

** Quod nenno rationem otii sui reddere cogeretur. Sueto- 
nius, lib 7 > ^' 14. 

^Historia, lib. 4, c. 4. 

* Tacit. Anna], lib. 5, c. 9. Suetonius^ lib. 3, c. ^0, 



138 Of different Arguments 

Monarcbs not only act thus inhumanly, but they 
consider humanity, even parental tenderness, trea- 
son against their power. Thus the tears of Vitia 
for her son's death by the tyrant were the crime for 
which the mother suffered'; and Suetonius, fol- 
lowing Tacitus, relates, that the children and wives 
of the condemned were slain, because relations 
weeping the murder of their friends transgressed 
the spirit of the imperial laws\ 

Monarchy vilifies, confounds, and reverses all 
things ; manners, institutions, and speech. In this 
country the king and the law are synonymous, and 
to the same purpose many words have changed their 
signification. Thus Johnson interprets loyally^ loyal- 
ty, adherence to the prince, attachment to the king ; 
and these are the general acceptations of the terms. 
Yet loyalty means amenable to the laws of the land. 
The same perversion other terms have experienced. 
Civil formerly regarded the rights and duties of 
citizens ; it now means complaisant. HonnHe like- 
wise in the French language formerly applied to in- 
tegrity of character, it now means courtly. But 
we are not to be surprised, that it abuses the law, 
and depreciates language, when it so debases the 
human mind, that before, after, now, and for ever, 

^ Tacit, lib. 6, c. 10. 
«Lib. 3, c. 60. 



for the Advantages of MonarcIiT/, 139 

men, as Plutarch says', in his essay on vicious 
shame, bad rather be called courteous, than mag- 
nanimous and just. 

Such is the triumph of monarchs, and such the 
ambition of their people 1 But consider, ye mo- 
narchs, that when adored you are despised; and 
that in general there is but one hour, one instant 
perhaps, between your outward praise and your 
avowed execration, for death and dishonour are as- 
sociated with your name. Consider, ye parasites, 
how monarchs treat their favourites. Most pro- 
bably you have felt it. The Shah^ says a traveller^ 
ordered his minister into his presence, and, having 
first bastinadoed him, asked him if he knew why 
he was beaten. He answered, he did not. Then, 
replied the monarch, I will tell you : '^ because, 
in rem.embering the blows, you will also remember 
the charge that I shall give you.'' And no doubt 
the minister glorified the monarch's condescension ; 
as it is related^, that, in the Persian monarchy, if 
the king order any one to be slain, he receives it 
as a kindness, because this shows, that the king is 
not unmindful of him. 

The benefits conferred by monarchs are often in- 

* Kopj/ov xcci l/.apov ayncrs'j.vov r.cci ^xsyaXoi y.a.i ^r/cuoi, 
t. 2, p. 529. 

*Han\vay, vol. 1, p. 18(5. 

* Nic. Damascenys, p. 5^4. 



140 Of different ArgumenU 

juries, for their goodness is not given, but forced 
on the people ; as were the improvements by Fre- 
'deric the Great and Joseph the Second in their re- 
spective states. Thus their good and bad deeds 
equally proceed from a violation of man's rights. 
If they punish vice, it is with vengeance ; and justice 
is offended by their execution of the laws, as ap- 
pears in the conduct of Titus to informers, and 
those who suborned them ' ; Titus, who possessed 
such active benevolence, that, recollecting at sup- 
per he had performed no kind office since he arose 
in the morning, exclaimed, " This day, my friends, 
has been lost to me^" 

There seems to be an antipathy in monarchy to 
have good performed ; something ever traverses and. 
defeats the imperfect disposition of serving huma- 
nity, which may occasionally be disclosed. The 
emperor of China ordered one hundred thousand 
taels for the relief of a village, that had suffered by 
an inundation ; but eighty thousand taels of this 
sum were intercepted by the ministry, according, 
says lord Macartney % to the customs of the mo- 
narchy. Nor is it's inability to raise supplies pro- 
fitably to the people and to the government more 
conspicuous, than it's inability to disburse profitably 

* Suetonius, lib. 11, c, 8. 

* Amici, diem perdidi. Sueton. lib, 1 1^ c. 7". 
-'Post. \Vorks, vol. 2, p. 318. 



for the Advantages of Monarch]/, 141 

the bounty of it's exchequer. The miri', or land 
tax, in Turkey is in itself moderate, but the mode 
of it's collection renders it ruinous in the extreme. 

Such is monarchy, wretched in every vievv^., and 
little less to be feared when administered by the 
fairest characters than by the worst ; for a virtuous 
man holding a despotical office gives a popularity to 
despotism, as Dion of Halicarnassus says of Titus 
Lartius""— the goodness of the man conferred vene- 
ration on the dictatorship. 

Yet how sensibly must a good man feel such a 
situation! Thus Masandrius^ though desirous of 
acting well, could not, and dared not. Universal 
misery is the common inheritance of all subjected 
to monarchy. " To live," says Rooker, " by one 
man's will, is all men's misery \" Which agrees 
with the sentiment of the ancients, as expressed by 
Euripides^, that in a monarchy, wiiich he calls the 
government of barbarians, all are slaves except one. 
It is miserable to one and all ; all are enslaved, 
prince and people ; the monarch as well as the mul- 
titude. He who enslaves many is the slave of 
many : he who makes many fear him has terrours 

' Volney's Voyage en Syrie, &c. t, 2, p. 3/3. 

* Antiq. Rom. lib. 6, c. 81. 
' Herodotus, lib. 3, c. 1-12. 

* Ecclesiast. Polity, b. 1, p, 6/. 

^ Ta Bc.f'^o'^pujv $8?.a Travra tt/.tjv ivjf. Helen, v. 2S3. 



142 j^dvanta ges of Monarchy, 

as dreadful as his crimes, and more numerous than 
the persons he has injured. In monarchies the 
people Hve as prisoners at the eve of trial, while 
monarchs exist as criminals during the interval be* 
tween judgment and execution'. 

Such is monarchy, which, though not always 
arrayed in the same terrours, though not always 
acting the same atrocities, for diseases the most ex« 
cruciating have their paroxysms of superlative agony ^ 
has ever manifested the same disposition to deprave 
and to be vitiated, to ruin and to be ruined, to af- 
flict and. to be afilicted. All monarchies have kin- 
dred defects ; though some have lost all traces of 
their former hberty, and are immersed in the abyss 
of despotism ; while others still subsist on the Earth 
by the memory of ancient institutions, and the 
forms of their abdicated freedom. In like manner 
have all monarchs the same propensities and pas- 
sions. Chesterfield, whose knowledge on this point 
was taken from life, declares, that '' kings who are 
absolute desire to continue so, and that those who 
are not endeavour to become so.'* Thus I have 
answered the arguments in favour of monarchy^ 
and subjoined some of the many reasons, which 

* Cicero, de Officiis, lib, 2, p. 3/7, has set farth the mise- 
ries of some tyrants. Nor is this wonderful, when Caligula's' 
sentiment, Oderint dum metuant, Suetonius, lib. 4, c. 42, is 
their common disposition. 



Of Aristocracy, 143 

induce me to believe, that it is unfit to administer 
wisely the affairs of men. 

OF ARISTOCRACY. 

Monarchy having been considered, vi^e come to 
aristocracy. This form of government is frequently 
praised by Aristotle ^5 and by other ancient writers ; 
as Plutarch% who says, " Democracy is better than 
tyranny, aristocracy is the best." But it is of ma- 
terial importance to observe, that the term aristocracy 
had in those remote times a very different meaning 
from that which it now bears ; as is obvious from 
Aristotle, when he explains the reason of his pre- 
ference. Aristocracy, he says, depends on virtue % 
which is precisely Montesquieu's principle of a re- 
public \ Aristotle^ adds, that it is that sort of go- 
vernment, in which education and institutions direct ; 
that in his estimation it resembles a commonwealth ; 
and, comparing it with oligarchy, he says, in an 
aristocracy the well instructed direct the state, ia 
an oligarchy the rich^ 

» De Rhetor, lib. 1, c. 8. * P. 594. 

^De Repub. lib. 2, c. 11. 

* L'Espiit des Loix, liv. 3, c. 3. * De Repub. lib. 4, c. 7. 

® Ibid. c. J 5. Plato also defines aristocracy and government,. 
in which neither the poor, nor the rich, nor the glorious, but 
the best, administer the state. Diog. Laert. p. 235. Polybiu? 
also defines this elder aristocracy to be a state in which the 
r^ilers have been deservedly chosen. Lib. 6, c. 2. 



14^ Of j4ristocracy. 

By aristocracy I mean a government of partica- 
lar citizens in right of their wealth, or their family^ 
or their religion, or any other circumstance except 
capacity and virtue. By oligarchy I mean an ari- 
stocracy drawn into fev^er hands. The Venetian 
government consisting of sixteen hundred nobles 
was in my acceptation of the term an aristocracy^ : 
when it became narrowed in effect to the pregadi, 
who were limited to two hundred and fifty, it be- 
came an oligarchy. Thus at Athens, when the 
popular government was dispossessed by the four 
hundred, the constitution of Athens was aristocrati- 
cal ; when this was dissolved, and the government 
was vested in five thousand, among whom were all 
those who carried arms, the aristocracy was en- 
larged ; when afterward the government was con- 
fined to thirty, the aristocracy became an oligarchy ; 
and when the thirty were still farther contracted to 
ten% it approached, as Tacitus generally says of 
the domination of a few, the licentiousness of 
royalty ^ It was under a similar contracted form of 
government, that the Thebans became traitors to 
Greece ; and such was their plea, v/hen "reproved 
for assisting theMedes. They lamented, that their 

* Keysler's Travels, letter JA. 

* Xenophon, Hist. Graec. lib. 2, p. 4/5. 

^ Paucorum dominatio regiae libidini propior. Annal. lib, 6,- 
c. 42. 



Of Aristocracy » 1 45 

government was then neither a democracy, lior a 
legitimate oligarchy ; which the scholiast on Thu- 
cydldes* interprets aristocracy; but under the do- 
minion of a few, which they considered m.ost illegal, 
and, as I have quoted from Tacitus^ approaching a 
tyranny. 

To explain this distinction by examples Connected 
with our own affairs, the government of Scotland 
became an oligarchy, when, in the reign of James 
the Sixth, the administration of the public purse, 
and with it the power of the state, was conferred 
on eight men^ called on that account octavIans\ 
The same has more than once been the misfortune 
of England. Whether it's government were more 
monarchical or aristocratical in the thirteenth and 
fourteenth centuries, or whether it fluctuated to 
either side as the king was capable or not, is unin- 
teresting to our inquiry ; but there can be no doubt, 
that Leicester and his faction of twenty-four changed 
in 1258 the existing government into an oligarchy, 
when they induced the parliament at Oxford. to 
choose twelve barons, to represent the community 
in future, under the pretence of relieving from 
trouble and expense those who had formerly been 
obliged to give their personal attendance in that as- 
sembly ^ 

* Lib. 3, p. 215. 

^ Robertson's Hist, of Scotland, \xA. 2, p. 230. 
3 Henry's Hist, of England, b. 4, c. 3, s. 1. 
VOL. I, JL, 



146 Of Aristocracy, 

In Iik« manner, when in 1386^ the two houses 
invested a coram^ee of eleven prelates and peers 
with full parliamentary powers, and compelled the 
king also to confer on them his prerogatives, the 
government was oligarchical ; as it was of course 
^by a similar appointment in 1398. Let me add, 
that the catastrophe of both was identical \ for they 
brought ruin on themselves, and on all who pro- 
moted or opposed them. 

In favour of oligarchies, such as I have men- 
tioned, I know not a single advocate. Plato, it is 
true, recommends an oligarchy ; but of what 
kind ? An oligarchy in which philosophers rule\ or 
the rulers are philosophers. By the same interpre- 
tation Aristotle might be quoted as attached to 
inonarchy, when he, I fear, clandestinely flattered 
Alexander rn his rhodomontade of a king appointed 
by the royalty of his nature to command man- 
kind. 

' Henry's Hist, of England, b. 4, c. 3, s. 4. 

® De Repub. lib. 5, p. 665. He mentions this in Epist. 7, 
but he condemns an oligarchy, saying, that it is replete with 
evils: OXiyapx^^ vvxvi^v yep-oucra kcckc/jv ftaKiteioc, De Re- 
pub. lib. 8, p. 711. I hope, that my suspicion of Aristotle's 
flattering Alexander is false. Plato also, as Aristotle, speaks 
of a man possessing the royal science, and that under such a 
governor the people would be most happy, and his administra- 
tion would be most blessed. Politicus, p. 557 > But, he adds, 
*' as no such man is to be found, excelling all others in mini 
body," &c. 

8 



Of Arktocracy, 14? 

Nor have aristocracies, according to my defini- 
tion of them^ had any advocates, though some have 
praised particular aristocracies, and others have ad- 
mired peculiar circumstances resuhing from some^ 
which they have distinguished ; as Guicciardini^ 
has praised the constancy and perseverance of the 
Venetian ; and in this respect they are frequently 
preferable both to monarchies and democracies* 
But what is the value of this, when balanced against 
their manifold defects ? Consider the wretched si- 
tuation of the Venetian state. The same ihdivi* 
duals were often alternately informers and accused, 
spies and suspected ; nay the spy was often at the 
same time submitted to a more prying inquisitor. 
Even this was insufficient to satisfy the universal 
jealousy, and a public reservoir was opened, to ac- 
cept any casual notices, that treachery or malevo- 
lence might suggest. So jealous and wretched 
were they^ that they durst employ no troops but 
foreign mercenaries, lest their government should 
be overthrown by their own citizens. Nor were 
their terrours vain ; for, except a foreign, military, 
mercenary despotism, any alternative is preferable 
to an aristocracy. The catastrophe of this sort of 
government has been universally the same : for the 
people have always, as m Denmark in l^^K)^ and 
in Sweden in 1772, exchanged v/ith joy thur ari- 

* Storla, Jib. 5, year 1501. 
i. 2 



i^8 Of Democracy, 

stocracy for a monarchy. What then must that 
state be, when monarchy, which Somers^ truly 
calls no form of government, is resorted to in ex- 
change for an aristocracy as a refuge by the people ? 

OF DEMOCRACY. 

Some will conclude, no doubt, that, as I have, 
spoken so unfavourably of monarchy and aristocracy, 
I must of course be a decided advocate for demo- 
cracy. Like other opinions formed, on presump- 
tions^ this also will be found erroneous. 

Democracy is defined by Aristotle*, a state ia 
which numbers overrule merit. This definition so 
fully coincides with my notions, that I shall only 
attempt to render it more explicit. By democracy 
I mean a state, in which the people direct in their 
own persons, vidthout choice or preference, the 
laws and their execution. Democracy always dif- 
fers from aristocracy in the greater relative propor- 
tion of actual chief magistrates to the whole popu- 
lation of the commonwealth. It also differs from 

' Judgment of Kingdoms and Nations, s. 28. Abimelech 
might say to the men of Sichem, " Judge, I pray you, whe- 
ther it be better for you, tliat threescore and ten reign over 
you, or that one reign over you." Judges, chap. 9, ver. 2. 
Yet this Abimelech murdered seventy of his bretliren, to attain 
royalty. 

*DeRepub. lib. ^,c. 2. 



Of Democracy. 149 

it materially in another respect; in aristocracies 
men are selected for insufHcient reasons, in demo- 
cracies they are not selected at all. 

Democracy has had many advocates, and the 
motives for their predilection have been various. 
Some through ignorance, some from enmity to 
tyrants^, some to flatter the people, and thus by de- 
ceiving to undo them, have favoured democracy. 
Nor has it been more strenuously supported on any 
grounds, than by reasoning on the natural equality 
of mankind. But the inference by no means foN 
Tows the position. I perfectly agree with these rea- 
soners, that all men are by nature free. It seems 
to me incontrovertible, though Filmer, in opposi- 
tion to the most devoted friends of monarchy, who, 
he says, " admitted with one consent the natural 
liberty and equality of mankind'," denies his assent - 
to this proposition. Why ? Because men are born 
in subjection to their parents. This is not surprising 
in Filmer ; but it is very surprising, that a similar 
expression should be discovered in Bentham% who 
differs from that wretched, insidious parasite, as 
virtue from vice. Bentham affirms, that, to say 

*Patriarcha, p, 12. 

• Traitfe de Legislat. t. 2, p. 11. "VVf Hasten, in his Relig. 
of Nature Delin. p. 129, has the following words : *' In a 
state of nature men are equal in respect of dominion. 1 ex- 
cept for the present the case of parents and their children," 



150 Of Democracy, 

all men hnve equal rights is to declare against all 
social subordination, and implies, that the son is 
equal to the father. Other writers have improved 
on this, and some of them, strange to say, breathe 
a democratical spirit. These innovators, presuming 
on great intellectual acumen, have proved to their 
own satisfaction and triumph, ^' lliat men have no 
rights — that there can he no opposite rights— nor 
rights and duties hostile to each other. — If one 
man have a right to he free^ another man cannot 
fiave a right to make him a slave.^^ Thus God- 
wir. trifles \ and the Scotch encyclopaedists trifle 
with him ^ But is there no reciprocity included in 
rights and duties ? The subjects of a despot have a 
right to liberty, and it is his duty to grant it them. 
Rights and duties are not hostile, they are in some 
measure correlative terms, and mutually imply each 
other. In answer to Bentham, I merely observe, 
that the rights of man have never been applied to 
the relative situation of infants and their parents, 
Nor is it imaginable how such a supposition could 
have been opposed to a claim of the equal rights of 
jnankind, which never regarded domestic economy, 
but political government. 

A persuasion of the natural liberty and equality 
of mankind has been affirmed in various ways by 

'PQlit. Justice, vol. 1, c, 5. *Word Right?. 



Of Democracy. 151 

various persons. PufFendorf, from the generality of 
it's admission, considers it as a law of nature \ It 
was the fundamental principle of the ancient French 
constitution, as well as of the modern*. — ^The or- 
dinances of Lewis the Tenth and of his brother 
Philip, in 1315 and 1318, begia^, " As all men are 
by nature free." — The manumission of two villains 
in 1514 by Henry the Eighth begins, " Whereas 
God created all men free', &;c.'* and it is, beside in 
a thousand other places, a maxim in the Code Frede- 
rique*. The natural equality of man was so ab- 
solutely admitted by Hobbes% who, if he dared, 
would have denied it, that he almost falls into the 
errour, which I have censured in Helvetius«— that 
men possess by nature equal powers of mind^ The 
primitive equality of mankind was commemorated 
in many nations by certain festivals indicative of this 
state; by the Chronia among the Greeks', by the 
Saturnalia at Rome', by the Jubilees derived from 
them in after times: and we are also told by 

• Law of Nature and Nations, lib. 3, c. 2, s. 1, lib. 2. c. 3^ 
p. 135. 

^ BoulaifivilUers' Ancient Pari, letter 2. 

^ Barrington, Ancient Stat. p. 236. 

^Partie 1, liv. 1, t. 5, s. 1. ^Leviathan, part I, c, 15, 

^ Independent Man, vol. 1 . 

"^ Macrobius, Saturnalia, lib. 1 , c. 7 . 

* Plutarch, in comparing Numa and LycurguS, 



152 Of DevfiQcracy^ 

Athenasus^, that the Posidonians enjoyed annually 
one day of licentiousness from their conquerors in 
memory of their former freedom. Yet, though I 
am persuaded, that the proposition, *' All men are 
equally free by nature," is incontrovertible, it does 
not follow, that democracy is the government ap- 
pointed by nature, nor does it prove it practicable, 
or beneficial if practicable. 

Some who have been the most decided advocates 
for man's natural equality, as Aristotle^ for instance, 
have also been the most decided enemies to demo- 
cracy according to my definition of it. The philo- 
sopher says^ that this government arises when the 
'free, because they are equal in some things, believe 
themselves equal in all 5 to which ca^se he attributes 
great dissensions in the state. All men have equal 
rights, but not to equal things; or, as Aristotle 
says in another part of his Republic, though a man 
has as good a right to his mina as another who 
contributed one hundred has to his hundred minae, 
it is not just^ that he who brought a mina shouI4 
have an equal share with him who contributed a 
hundred% 

All men are equally free by nature, and should, 
generally speaking, remain so in society. But a 

^ Deipnosoph. lib. 14. ' 

* Aja to rijv ^ucrtv i<xoi$ sivoct ifavfas. De Repub. lib. 2, c. 2, 

? Ibid. lib. 5y c. 1. * Ibid. lib. 3, c. 9. 



Of Democracy* 153 

poor man has not the same pretensions to the na- 
tional exchequer as the rich, nor has an ignorant 
simple man the same pretensions justly to sway the 
counsels of the nation as an experienced sage, nor 
a dastard in the day of battle to lead the forces of 
the state as a chief of approved valour and conduct. 
Some, says Aristotle justly, though Hobbes^ gibingly 
reprehends his remark, should direct, while others 
from their feeble powers and limited attainments 
should act subordinately to them. But beside the 
distance between the incompetent and the capable, 
there are also degrees of intelligence and capacity 
among the learned and the enlightened. It is there- 
fore not natural, it is indeed most unnatural, that 
in situations which require sagacity and talents men 
of unequal and inferiour abilities should be invested 
with equal responsibility and power : this would be, 
as Isocrates says*, to act most unequally, because 
most unjustly.' There is also another observation 
of the same orator to the same purpose^. Equality 
does not consist in confounding the good and bad, 
but in distributing to each individual his desert. 
Hence I conclude, that equality in a political and 
rational view is to grant to superiour men an oppor- 

* Leviathan, part 1, c, 15. 

CQcles, p. 86. 

^ Ar£cpagit. p. 2Vto 



154 Of Democracy. 

tunity to distinguish their superiour qualities in serv-* 
ing their fellow citizens. This is not consonant 
to democracy, and of course I unequivocally con- 
demn it as unsuitable to the purposes of a govern- 
ment, which aspires at perfection. 

Yet, while I object to democracy, I cannot coin- 
cide with some observations, which have been made 
concerning it. It is said, that in democracies slaves 
are more severely treated than in monarchies or in 
aristocracies. Some even assert, that the fact is 
universal. Yet there are also observations, which 
seem to have an opposite tendency, as the saying, 
that a servant is a bad master, and a slave the greatest 
tyrant. The severer management of slaves in de- 
mocracies is certainly not universal, witness the 
state of tjie slaves at Athens, where they were 
treated with distinguished humanity \ Suppose 
however the contrary, and that in democracies 
slaves are particularly subjected to their master's 
caprice. What is the cause of this ? In free go- 
vernments, if it be not a solecism to call those free> 
in v/hich slavery is tolerated, the government is 

' Smith says. Slaves are worse treated in free states^ than irv 
monarchies. WeaUh of Nations, b. 4, c. 7. Brougham says. 
The slaves in the Spanish and Portuguese colonies are better 
treated than the slaves of the colonies of other nations ) the 
Dutch treat theirs the worst 3 the English and French hold a 
middle btauon between both. Colonial Policy, vol. 1^ p. 7^^ 



Of Democracy. 355 

cautious how it interferes with the innna^^ment of 
slaves, who are considered as privite prop< rty — a 
liberal reason for most illiberal conduct, while in 
monarchies, where all are the property of one^ there 
is no such apprehension. 

It is said also, that monarchi-^s are more conside- 
rate in the government of foreign nations suHjected 
to them. Is it meant, that they treat foreigners 
better than their own people, as in Russia ? ** Of 
all nations," says lord Macartney, " under the 
Russian dominion, Russia is tie (e?st happy, and 
the least free'." This does not deserve much ap- 
plause. It is said, that they are less oppressive to 
their pi^ovinces. When the provinces of monarchies 
are comparatively better treated, we are not to im^ 
pute it to the virtues but to the vices of the govern- 
ment, or at least to the vicious principles on which 
they are founded., and on which they act. Au- 
gustus took under his own management the more 
powerful provinces, while the others were governed 
by proconsuls chosen by lot. Thus likewise Selim, 
contrary to his general policy, did not establish a 
bashaw in Egypt. Nor do I doubt, that those pro- 
vinces, which were under the inspection of the 
emperor and the sultan, were better governed than 
those confided to proconsuls and bashaws. But 
whence arose this ? From the suspicion and weak- 

J Post. Works, vol. 2j p. 22. 



156 Of Democracy. 

n€ss of both governments. Augustus acted in this 
manner to secure his usurpation^, and Selim lest he 
should endanger his tyranny ^ 

Other objections have been made to democracy, 
which I cannot pass unnoticed. Consider demo- 
cracy in it's elements, in the people. These, say 
some, are swift to seize power. How does this ap- 
pear ? Consider the Roman history. The Roman 
people, having obtained the privilege of electing a 
consul from their own order, did not immediately 
exert their influence ; in that very year, on which 
they received that permission, they elected a patri- 
cian to the consulate', nor was there a plebeian 
consul elected before Lucius Sextius*. So little 
were they disposed to seize the prerogatives and ho- 
nours possessed by the patricians, that their tribune, 
a man containing in himself the whole power of 
the people, declared, " We admit, O patricians, 
that the best of you should enjoy the highest ho- 
nours and offices of the state ; we desire to be pre- 
served from injuries, and to have our oppressors 
punished'.'* 

It is said, that democracies are lawless in the exe- 
cution of their power. How is this even applicable 

' Nee tutum erat, &c. Suetonius, lib. 2, c. 67» 
*Volney's Voyage -^n Syrie, &c. t. 1, p. 92. 
-■■. * Llvius, Jib 4, c. 25. '^ ibid. lib. 10, C. 8. 

\ Dion. Haiicar. Ant. Rom. lib, 7, c. 41. 



Of Democracy. 157 

to the very mob? The insurrection in 1381 has 
more than once been quoted, to show the extrava- 
gance of the people. It has also been intimated, 
that the opinions professed by the insurgents showed 
the danger of instructing the people in the rudi- 
ments of learning, and the barons of those days 
petitioned the king, that no villeyn should be per- 
mitted to send his son to school ^ It is true, that 
at this time a dav/n of light cast a faint and false 
illumination on the minds of mankind ; but the 
misfortune of this and of many preceding and sub- 
sequent periods was, that the lower orders advanced 
in knowledge, while the higher were retrograde or 
stationary, not knowing, or not heeding, what be. 
came them, and what was suitable to others. 

The improvements of the people had however 
no influence on this commotion. In 1377, four 
years before this famous insurrection, a law was 
enacted, on which Barrington observes, " nothing 
could be more oppressive than this law in every part 
of it; and we find by different records in Rymer^ 
that this oppression was in reality the occasion of 
the famous insurrection under \Yat Tyler and Jack 
Straw/' Neither was this the immediate cause of 
the insurrection, it was only aiding and preparatory 
to the event. A grievous tax had been imposed^ 

* In the fifteenth of Richard the Second, Barrington's Anc, 
Statutes, p. 232i * 



15B Of Democracy, 

it was exacted with rigour, and insult was added to 
violence. Among many other violations of ail that 
vras respectable and just^ a tax gatherer attempted 
to exhibit an indecent proof, that a female had 
reached the age taxable by the law. One hundred 
thousand people rose in arms in consequence of this 
brutality. What was the conduct of this oppressed, 
insulted, and irresistible multitude, who could have 
instantly swept away all their extraordinary and 
subordinate tyrants? Having committed a small 
though unjust reprisal on the obvious authors of 
their dishonour and misery, with absolute power in 
their hands, they demand pardon — abolition of 
slavery — freedom of commerce in market towns 
without toll or imposts — a fixed rent for land, in- , 
stead of the pernicious and variable services due by 
villenage*. Being promised these requests, the 
reasonableness of which time has confirmed, they 
separated in peace. But mark the consequence, 
mark and compare the conduct of the people, of the 
populace, with that of the monarch and the ari- 
stocracy j all the promises made by these to the 
people were retracted, and the act of indemnity 

» Hume s Hist, of England, year ] 3S1 . It may be remarked, 
that the violence of a Geaoese tax-gatherer to an old woman 
ill assessing a trifling sum occasioned the insurrection of the 
Corsicans, and (he separation of their counU-y from Genoa. 
Boswell's Corsica^ p. 6J7. 



Of Democracy, 159 

revoked. Nay the fifth of Richard the Second 
recites, that many of the rioters had been executed 
without due process or trial ; on which account the 
king grants a general pardon to be pleaded against 
any prosecutions, that maybe commenced ; *' which 
seems to be a law,*' says Bi5rrington, " of as alarm- 
ing a nature to the liberty of the subject, as can be 
found in the whole code of the statutes \'' Such are 
your kings and barons, and such your deluded, 
oppressed people. 

It is said, that the people are unrelenting in their 
enmides. No slander is more gross. When Ap- 
pius, who had impaired the power of the senate, 
and had obstinately persecuted the plebeians by 
every outrage, was brought before the people to be 
judged by them, " and never/' says Livy% '' was 
criminal more hateful to the people!" they per- 
mitted him to defer his trial. During the interval 
he died in prison. Soon after, his body was brought 
into the forum, and his son proceeded to deliver his 
funeral oration. The tribunes withheld him, on ac- 
count of the extent of his father's crimes^ The 
people however interposed, " and they listened,'* 
says Livy, " as attentively to his praises, as they 
had to his accusation.*' The tenderness and gene- 

* Barrington's Aric. Stat. p. 248. *i>ib. 2, c, QV. 

* Dion,* Halicar. lib. 9. 



1 60 Of Democracy, 

rosity of the people are testified among every na- 
tion* When Philopoemen was taken ■ by the Mes- 
senians, they debated what should be done with 
him^ The wealthy pronounced his death : but the 
people forgave his attack on their territories, and 
determined to save him ; they forgot his present 
violence against themselves in memory of his former 
achievements. 

It is said, that the people are envious of those 
who possess power, and our attention has been 
turned by many writers to the Athenians in proof 
cf this assertion. It was a principle in the policy 
of this extraordinary people, that it was better that 
a few shonld occasionally be banished for a certain 
period, when their celebrity gave them a dangerous 
preeminence in the state, than that they should re- 
main a terrour to the freedom of their fellow 
citizens. 

This may be an argument against the goodness 
of the Athenian laws, but certainly it is no proof 
of the ingratitude of the people, or of envy to their 
most distinguished countrymen. Ostracism was so 
honourable, that when it passed against an ordinary 
person it fell into disuse. The Athenian legislators 
thought it better, to estrange a few from -their native 
land by an honourable exile, than, by continuing 

* Pausanias, lib. 8, c, 51, 



Of Democracy, 161 

them suspected at home, endanger their liberty. 
Cities and nations around them were perpetually- 
oppressed by despots, and they had themselves suf- 
fered by the domination of the Pisistratids, and by 
other tyrannies, which fully authorized this or ^ven 
greater precautions. 

The Athenians have been also reprobated for 
many unjust convictions of celebrated men. I ad- 
mit, that many of them were unjust. But how 
does this affect the character of the people? It 
proves, that they were deceived, not that they were 
t^njust or invidious. Those v.-hom they condemned 
they believed guilty, and this was frequently proved 
by their annulling their own sentence, when they dis- 
covered their errour. Witness the consequence of 
that event, when they sentenced to death eight naval 
commanders, whom they had sent against the La* 
ceda^monians. Immediately after their condemna- 
tion they are better informed — they lament their 
own precipitancy, and they decree, that the false 
accusers should be arraigned for calumny in having 
deceived the people'. Their contrition was their own^ 
their errours the crimes of those whp deceived them. 

-<> 
'Xenophon, Hist. Graac. lib. 1, p. 452. In manjr cases? 
the only existing verse of the poet Demetrius may be applied 
t9 the Athenians: 

^oov atiij^TjcrcKyrss, a7ro<pQi^eyov itohoicri. 

DiQg. Laert. p. 35/. 
vor,. I, M 



1 62 Of J)emocracy, 

It is said, that the people are not thankful for 
benefits. Livy' abounds with instances to the con- 
trary ; and Machiavel, who made the history of 
Rome his peculiar study, says, " Except Scipio, no 
man during the whole course of the Roman go- 
vernment suffered through the ingratitude of the 
people\" I add, Did not Scipio assume a haugh- 
tiness, which might at least palliate the people's pro- 
ceedings against him ? The assertion, that the people 
are ungrateful, is so completely belied by facts, that 
Locke' recites as an adage, " The reigns of good 
princes have been always most dangerous to the 
liberties of the people." 

It is said, that the people are inconstant. They 
are so ; and most inconstant in prosecuting their 
rights, while monarchies and aristocracies pursue 
their selfish interests with pertinacious wickedness. 
They are most inconstant : for, having resolved 
after great and frequent provocations to have their 
grievances redressed, nothing is more common, . 
than to find them, by evasive arts, by soothing 
words, or even by something less imposing than 
either, induced to relinquish their duty and their 
designs. The plebeians of Rome, harassed on every 
side by the patricians, abandon the city -, but a tale 

*L"b. 4, c. 60; lib 5, c. /. « Discorsi, lib. 1, 20. 

*On Government, b. 2, s. l66. 



Of Democracy, 163 

df the Belly and the Members from Menenius as* 
suages their rage, and they return to the city. The 
people are so inconstant, that their unsuspecting 
carelessness sometimes betrays them into ludicrous 
situations. 1 shall quote an instance to this eiFect 
from the conduct of a people very jocularj but so 
singularly oppressed, that their pleasantry is most 
remarkable. A report was circulated in Dublin 
during a duke of Bedford's administration*, that a 
union between England and Ireland^ a measure 
ever deprecated by the people, was to be proposed 
to parliament. The populace assembled in College 
Green, threatened and insulted some members of 
parliament, and imposed oaths on others ; they 
then broke into the house of commons, placed an 
old woman in the speaker's chair, and began to 
debate on the propriety of introducing pipes and 
tobacco. Such is the inconstancy of the people. 

I condemned, and I again condemn democracy y 
but I could not admit, that falsehoods should be 
imputed to it and to the people, and suffer them to 
pass unanswered. The ignorance and the neces* 
sities of the mere people unfit them for administer- 
ing the affairs of nations. Their virtues unfit them. 
Their zeal against a criminal frequently changes into 
pity for the unfortunate. Thus the malefactor is 

* Macartney's Post. Works, vol. 2^ p. 141, 



164? Of Democracy, 

absolved, justice defeated, and crimes encouraged. 
Nor is their gratitude less pernicious. They are 
excessive in their returns for kindness, they con- 
sider any limits to their prodigality a disgrace to 
their affections, and thence they invest their sup- 
posed benefactors with power and influence fatal to 
their liberty and fortunes. Void of deceit them- 
selves, they are open to impostors ; they consider a 
vehement demeanour and warm professions as the 
ingenuous emotions of the souL Thus demagogues 
exasperate their resentments, inflame their hopes, 
and agitate them to their undoing ; till at last, irri- 
tated and enraged in the extreme by these mis- 
creants and incendiaries, they inflict the very cala- 
mities, that they would punish. In hatred of in- 
justice and selfishness, they confound ail justice, all 
law and order. In times of scarcity for instance 
they fire magazines of corn, to lessen the price, 
and increase the stock of provision. Their acts are 
not so truly passionate, as insane ; and they resemble 
in their extent and consequence rather the distrac- 
tion of the elements, than the proceedings of men^ 
But let it be remembered, that the people, the 
rulers in a democracy, are far differently situate 
from the misrulers in monarchies and aristocracies. 
The latter injure others without sympathy, and 



■{ hjtwKcoLriv. rj rO.a'j-rxio,. Arist. De Repub. lib. 5, c. 10. 



Review of the Roman Stale. 165 

without suffering ; while the former cannot injure 
others without soon and severely feeling the effects 
of their own errours. This is one great reason for 
the quickness and vivacity of their repentance. But 
here again the defects of democracies are obvious : 
the people may repent, but they know not how to 
profit by their penitence. Whether erring or re- 
forming, they are the victims of passion, of igno- 
rance, and imposture ; till at length, tired and con- 
founded by their unavailing efforts, the government 
of the mere people changes to an oHgarchy, or to 
an aristocracy, which ends in monarchy. This be- 
ing the situation of democracy, it's beginning, pro- 
gress, change, and catastrophe, who would wish to 
have it established among men? I must however 
repeat, that, while I condemn democracy, I do not 
criminate the people. Men are criminal who act 
knowingly wrong, but the people err through ig- 
norance. 

MONARCHY, ARISTOCRACY, OR DEMOCRACY, 
SINGLE OR COMBINED, FORMING A DEFECTIVE 
GOVERNMENT, SFIOWN IN A REVIEW OF THE 
ROMAN STATE. 

I have unequivocally shown my disapprobation of 
monarchy, aristocracy, and democracy, as forming 
a political government. I now proceed to show^ by 
a review of the fluctuations of the Roman state, the 



166 Review of the Roman State, 

defects and misfortunes, which proceed from any 
two of them being combined, or from all of them 
being united in one constitution. This inquiry not 
only suits exactly the occasion, but it will also il- 
lustrate some preceding disquisitions^ and prepare the 
way for those which are to follow. 

The first account of the Roman people, which 
deserves any notice, relates, that a number of men 
in a certain period dwelt in Italy under the direction 
of Romulus and Remus. I speak thus generally, 
for exactness in such remote affairs betrays, if I mis- 
take not, little sagacity ; though Plutarch ^ says, that 
Romulus began to build the city of Rome on the 
twenty-first of April, as another person, with little 
more extravagance, has calculated the day' of the 
month on which the world began. 

It is said, that in the beginning Romulus divided 
the people into tribes •, Hervey asserts, however, 
there were no tribes, because Livy does not mentioQ 
this distinction. He does not, it is true, in his ac- 
count of the first arrangement \ but he afterward 



' Romulus. 

« Dion Halicai'. lib. 2, c. 7. If the Romans were a banditti, 
Romulus might have assisted in dividing them into tribes. If, 
however, the Romans were a regular accumulation ^^f families, 
he could not j for tribes precede politic establishirents, and are 
in effect minor states, which possess their distinction after they 
coalesce with others, and form one commenwealth. 



Revieiu of the Roman State, 167 

specifies three ancient tribes, Rhammes, Tatienses, 
Luceres. Tlie tribes were divided into curias, and 
these into decurias, each of which had it's particular 
leader. That is, the people were divided into bodies 
of eleven, and of one hundred and ten. To each 
of the curiae an equal portion of the whole territory 
was assigned. 

The senate, according to Dion of Halicarnassus ^, 
was originally formed thus : Three individuals were 
chosen frpm each of the three tribes, and three from 
each of the thirty curiae. This election produced 
ninety-nine persons, Romulus added one to them by 
his own prerogative, and thus the senate consisted 
of one hundred members. Lord Hervey* denies this, 
and he condemns the historian's whole account, say- 
ing, that he fictitiously assimilated the Roman con- 
stitution to the Grecian states ; and adding, that this 
was his conduct in respect to every law, institution, 
and custom among the Romans. I perceive but very 
imperfect reasons for this imputation, and none 

» Lib. 10, c. 6. 

^ Hervey to Middleton, Letters^ p. y3. It amazes me, that 
Hervey should say, that there were no tribes originally at Rome, 
when they have been common to every part of the world j as 
also the minor divisions of curiae, to which the yzvverai and 
^lf.(^^ in some measure corresponded. The same are observable 
in the Saxon institution 3 in the East, as may be seen in the 
Ayeen Akberry 5 and in America, see Heriot's Travels, 
p. 408, &c. 



16S Revkw of thd Roman State, 

whatever for the point to which it is applied. hbxA 
Hervey is also of opinion, that the senate was merely 
the king's council ; and he affirms ^5 that there is no 
authority for beliexring, that during the whole regal 
government the people had directly or indirectly, 
actually or virtually, any share or concern in the 
choice of the senators. 

Hervey seems to have had a very exalted notion 
of the prerogatives of the Roman kings. His ar- 
guments in many cases to substantiate this opinion 
would just as soon prove, that the acts of the British 
parliament were royal ordinances, because they are 
entitled from the year of the monarch's reign in 
which the parliament passed them. Romulus was 
himself elected ^; and so improbable is it, that he 
named the senate, that it is much more likely a se- 
nate, or some council sim.ilar to the senate, recom- 
mended him to the choice of the people. We read 
of senators being called fathers for their piety % or 
because they had fathers, or because they were fa- 
thers : it seems to me evident, that they were so de- 
nominated through respect, age being a universal 
character of reverence among men. It is also pro- 
bable, that Dion of Halicarnassus ^ gives a just be- 
cause a natural account of the causes of their ap- 
pointment, they coincide with the motives for pre- 

' Letter A, p. 68. • Dion Halicar. lib. 2, c. 4. 

2 Aurelius Victor, RomuU Vita. * Lib. 2, c. ^,. 



Review of the Roman State, 169 

ferring individuals in all ages:— ^" birtb5Yirtue5riches, 
and a numerous family," says the historian, ''distin- 
guished them from the poor and the unknown." 

I do not understand how it can be imagined, that 
Romulus could have named the senate, which was 
an act of peace; nor indeed do I perceive by what 
experience of events in society we should conclude, 
that even in the military department he had the su- 
preme nominadon of the chief officers of the state. , 
I should suppose, that his legitimate authority re- 
sembled that of the ataman or chief of the Kosacks, 
as described by Pallas \ " The ataman, the chief 
of the Kosacks of Jaik, depends on the military 
college that appoints him. He has twenty counsel- 
lors, called starchinas, or senators, of which the 
chief assemble daily in the court-house of the city." 
Having mentioned various offices, " these it is neces- 
sary to have filled, in order to be enabled to reach 
the dignity of starchina ; it is also necessary to have 
served in the city magistracy. The authority of this 
democratical regency [aristocratical rather] is very 
limited, and all public affairs are determined in a 
general assembly of the people." This account of 
the Kosack government coincides in many particulars 
with the Roman, during the reign of it's first kings, 
though the latter had the three simple orders of 

' Voyage, t, 2, p. 99. 



1 70 Review of the Roman State, 

monarchy, aristocracy, and democracy, more clearly 
and fully expressed. 

The Roman people decided ultimately ©n all chief 
questions ; and the senate, which was appointed by 
family and by service, as no one not a patrician, no 
one who had not filled certain civil and military si- 
tuations, could be a senator, had peculiar and ex- 
traordinary powers. They had also coordinate power 
with the people in many ^reat cases, and in none 
more important than in the election of the king \ 
The king was high priest, guardian of the laws, 
and administrator of justice*; though there was al- 
ways an appeal from his decision to the people 3, he 
assembled both them and the senate ; and he first de- 
clared his opinion, but his conduct was directed by 

' Livy says, Numa Porapilius populi jussu patribus auctori- 
bus Romae regnasse : and again, TuUus Hostilius being dead, 
res, ut institutum jam inde ab initio erat, ad patres redierat. 
Quo comitia habita Ancum Martiura regem populus creavit, 
lib. 1, c. 32. 

* Dion Halicar. lib. 2, c. 14. 

^ Hervey, letter 13th, p. 230, supposes, that the lex pro- 
vocationis was first passed during the administration of Poplicola. 
This he probably adopted from Plutarch, who affirms this in 
his Life of Solon. But this assertion is no more true, than that 
Magna Cbarta established unknown privileges. The lex pro- 
vocationis belonged to tlie Roman constitution when it was 
a kingdom. Seneca says, aeque notat, Romulum periisse soils 
defectione. Provocationem ad populum etiam a regibus fui£S9« 
Epistola 108. Cicero said the same, 4e Repub. lib. 1. 



"Review of the Roman St a te. 1 7 1 

the majority of senators and people. The Roman 
constitution^ from this account, contained the three 
orders of government ; a monarchy, though the 
king's trust by being elective approached that of the 
chief magistrate of a commonwealth ; an aristocracy, 
which also approached the council of a common- 
wealth, in consequence of age and services being 
necessary to qualify patricians to sit in that assembly; 
and a democracy^ which was represented by the 
assemblies of the people. 

The situation of the Roman affairs during this 
early period does not prepossess us in favour of a 
mixed form of government, and the events in the 
subsequent reigns are still less satisfactory. The 
elder Tarquin violates the constitution 5 he changes 
it in his own person from an elective to an hereditary 
kingdom ; and, neglecting the recom^mendation of 
the senate ^, he appeals to the people alone for their 
approbation, Servius TulHus pursues a different 
conduct ^ He assumes the sovereignty at the will of 
the patricians in despite of the people ; and pro- 
secuting the same object, he by his census, in 
changing the distribution of the people from curiae 
to centuries, in a great measure annuls their politic, 
^al power. 

* Livius, lib. 1, c. 35. 

• Primus injussu populi voiuntate patrum regnavit. Ibid, 
lib. 1, c. 41. 



172 Review of the Roman State* 

In the first reigns we perceive the three simple 
orders united. With Tarquin this was changed to 
the union of monarchy and democracy. With Ser- 
vius this was again changed for a union of monarchy 
and aristocracy : and all in their conduct and effects 
controverted the principles of good government, par- 
ticularly and eminently the Tegal, as appears by the 
following facts. Romulus committed fratricide in 
order to enjoy sovereign power alone : he assumed 
a body guard of three hundred men, which, con- 
sidering the population, was a standing army : he 
entirely reduced the importance of the senators *, 
assembling them rather for form than business ; and 
was at last assassinated by them. On this exploit the 
senators participated the sovereignty^ and ten ruled 
in succession for every five days. This aristocracy 
was still more intolerable to the people, and they 
complained, that the royal tyranny was by this in- 
creased a hundred fold. They demanded a king. 
As Romulus was a military man, the Romans now 
appointed Numa, who was of a contraiy disposition. 
But Numa was a consummate hypocrite, and infi- 
nitely more criminal than his predecessor. The evil 
which Romulus perpetrated ended nearly with his 
life ; but the crimes of Numa disgraced the Roman 
manners and character as long as the Roman name 
continued, for the best and wisest of the nation were 
f J^lutarch^ Romulus, 



Revievj of the Roman State. 173 

tainted with the superstition, which this royal priest 
and prophet introduced among them. 

After him succeeded, first, Tullus Hostillus, then 
Ancus Martins, afterward Tarquin. The last, un- 
taught by the fate of Romulus, commenced his 
reign by a gross violation of the fundamental prin- 
ciples of the constitution. He affected popularity, 
and pretended to hold his crown by the people's fa- 
vour in despite of the senate. He designed a total 
dissolution of this assembly ; but finding this too 
hazardous to effect at once, he took a less alarming 
course. Instead of openly attempting to destroy 
their power, he rendered their opposition ineffectual 
by introducing one hundred new senators, who, we 
must suppose, were devoted to his interest. Thus 
by their preponderance in the senatorial counsels he 
secured the submission of the senate to his will. This 
Tarquin was slain by his nephews, whom he had 
overreached, and thus he expiated his treachery and 
tyranny together. 

Servius Tullius, I have observed, took a contrary 
course : so that Machlavel is wrong, who considers 
Sylla as a singular example of one who sought ty- 
ranny by addressing rather the aristocratical than 
the plebeian faction. This man absolutely destroyed 
the popular branch of the constitution ; for after his 
regulations it was not the most numerous body, but 
the richest, that formed a majority of the people. 



t^4t Review of the Roman State. 

*rhe nest step in this eventful progress of royalty 
is ^he death of Servias Tullius, slain by the joint 
conspiracy of his son and daughter-in law^ who had 
already coilimitted adultery, and murdered their re* 
sbective spouses, in order to unite their interests and 
ambition by marriage. In consequence the younger 
Tarquin is by various artifices declared king. Having 
plundered the rich. <iisgraced the patricians, op- 
pressed the people, and violated Lucretia, the na- 
tion revolted, he was dethroned, and with him roy- 
alty, which had existed for two hundred and forty- 
four years, was for ever banished from Rome. 
^' From his expulsion,'* says Livy ^, '^ we date the 
beginning of liberty ; then the Roman people be- 
came free, and the empire not of men but of laws 
prevailed. ^" 

With the abolition of royalty I conceive a con- 
siderable change was effected in the constitution. 
Yet Polybius^ affirms, that, during the consulate, the 
three orders of government were entirely preserved 
in the Roman state ; and Livy ^ most expressly says, 
that to this alteration we are to attribute rather an 
increased freedom than any diminution of the royal 
authority. Immediately after the expulsion of Tar- 
quin, the danger of a counter-revolution might 
strengthen the hands of the consuls ; and the gra- 

' Lib. J, c. QO. • Ibid. lib. 2, c. 1. ^ lib. Q. 

* Lib. 2, c. L 



Revieiu of the Roman State, 175 

titude of all orders for their deliverance might even 
invest it's chief promoters vi^ith an extent of power, 
which was never voluntarily bestowed on their royal 
predecessors. But there were immediately many 
causes, which must materially have impaired the 
royal prerogatives in their descent to the consuls. 

The regal power was diminished on the instant of 
the consular institution. " For a perpetual, an an- 
nual magistracy, for the government of one, that 
of two was established," says Florus ', '^ lest by it*s 
singleness or continuance it might be corrupted.'* 
There can be no doubt, but that a power divided be- 
comes less operative \ nor can there be any doubt, but 
that shortening it's duration weakens it's efficiency, 
for otherwise an estate by the year is equal to an 
estate for life. The impotency of the consular go- 
vernment was so obvious soon after it was exercised % 
as to indicate the necessity of appointing a dictator, 
that is a legalized despot^: and here I may remark, 

* De Mutatione Reipub. • Livius/ lib, 2, c. 18. 

^ A quo provocatio non est, Livius, lib. 2 : which in lib. 3, 
c. 55, he calls unicum presidium libertatis. On the election of the 
dictator, who was named by the consul or praetor absolutely, 
(Plutarch, Marcellus,) all magistrates lost their power except 
the tribunes. Polybius, lib. 3, c. 18. Plutarch, Antonius. He 
could imprison whom he pleased, and inflict capital punishment 
without form of trial. This office at the commencement was 
granted for a short time, and Camillus was the first, who held 
it for more than six months. 



176 Review of the Roman State, 

that, as the Athenian state always leaned ih it's ex- 
cesses to a democracy, the Roman in it's excesses 
inclined to a despotism. The Athenians by their 
judgment of ostracism, rather than expose their 
freedom to the possibility of danger, dismissed their 
most popular citizens ; while the Romans, by ap- 
pointing the most celebrated of their people to the 
dictatorship, occasionally authorised by law that do- 
mination as a refuge, which the Athenians regarded 
as a catastrophe to be prevented by suspecting dan- 
ger even from virtue itself. 

The w^eakness of the consulate is obvious 
from other mutadons. In the year 301 after the 
founding of Rome, beside the intervention of the 
dictatorship, the form of the constitution was 
changed, and the decemvirs succeeded the consuls. 
These were displaced, and the consuls resumed 
their occupation \ After this the consuls again re- 
signed their situation, and in their place, on account 
of their incompetence to meet the exigency of af- 
fairs, six milirary tribunes were appointed to ad- 
minister the business of the state*. 

^Livius, lib. 3, c 33. 

* Lib. 5, c. 31. This was the subterfuge; for Plutarch observes, 
that the six military tribunes were appointed to amuse the 
people, who were better pleased, that the. consular power should 
be divided among six than two. Camillus. He adds, that^ on 
the people's being admitted to attain the consulate, this office 
■was revived, and the military tribunes ceased for ever. 



Review of the Roman State. 177 

Beside the shortness of the consular power com- 
pared with the regal, and it's division between two 
persons, the consuls absolutely lost great preroga- 
tives, which the king had enjoyed. The consul did 
not fill the office of sovereign pontiff, which pos- 
sessed such influence on public affairs, that he who 
exercised it could put a complete negative on all 
political proceedings. His knowledge of auspices 
from chickens feeding on holy dough, &C.5 had more 
absolute control on the Roman councils, than the 
contradictory though orthodox knowledge of popes 
and archbishops has had at different periods on the 
interests of Great Britain. 

The consuls also lost the censorship, which ori- 
ginally belonged to the kings. It is true, that the 
censorship was unimportant in the time of royalty 
in comparison to the influence v/hich it afterward 
obtained ; yet still the power of the consuls was 
lessened by this, as by the extraordinary power of 
any other magistrate. The prerogative of the con- 
suls was also diminished by' the institution of the 
pr^torship, which had equally been a limb of royalty 
and of the consulate, and by many other circum- 
stances, particularly by the appointment of procon- 
suls \ It is to no purpose in opposition to these cb- 

* Plutarch says^ that there were one hundred and twenty pro- 
consuls and praetors at Caesar's levee at Lucca. Plutarch^ Pcm- 
pey. I may observe, that the office of treasurer belonged to 
VOL. I. N 



1*78 Review of the Roman State, 

servations to say, that the business of the state so 
accumulated, that the consul could not attend to 
the census, that he could not administer justice in 
person, and that the provinces of the state became 
so numerous, that proconsuls were of necessity- 
chosen to manage their various and important con- 
cerns. All these offices and appointments being de- 
ducted from the consulate, lessened the power of the 
consuls relatively to Vv^hat was enjoyed by the senate, 
whose importance increased with the hicreasing do- 
minion of the Roinsn name. 

Yet notwithstanding this manifest disparity between 
the executive and senatorial power after the abolition 
of royalty at Rome, Polybius, as I have intimated, 
affirms, that the government v/as happily mixed, 
regal in the consul, aristocratical in the senate^, de- 
mocratical in the people. I say, that in no time, 
except occasionally during the lii*st reigns perhaps, 
was ever the Roman state ruled by this trinitarian 
power ; and indeed it is not more absurd, than any 
miraculous confusion of persons and numbers, to 
suppose, that there should exist in a state three di- 
stinct powers, coordinate, supreme, harmonious, 
and permanent in their operations. I have shown, 
that the consul could not counterbalance the senate. 

the Roman executive power, but that Poplicoia separated it 
from the executive, pjutarch, Poplicoia. 



Review of the Roman State, 179 

1 shall now show, that the people did not counter- 
balance the senate ; and it will incidentally appear, 
that whenever the people assumed political conse- 
quence it occasioned some rupture or convulsion in 
the state. 

It has been said vauntingly, that the people elected 
to the magistracy, sanctioned the laws, had the ap- 
pellant jurisdiction, and decided ultimately on peace 
and war\ But what appearance does the people 
make in comparison to the senate ? That of a shifting 
multitude and a select stationary assembly. And 
how are the people's pretensions dissipated, when we 
analyse their authority ! Dionysius of Halicarnassus^ 
is of opinion, that even during the kingly government 
the senate had the sovereignty ; and he says ex- 
pressly, that, when the kings were dismissed, the 
Roman state became an aristocracy ^ 

On the classification of Servius in 175 the people 
were in a great measure disfranchised, for by his 
arrangement the first class, fhat is, the richest, 

^ Polybius, lib. 6, c. 3. 

* AAA' Tj yep8<ricc itav ai^s fouv "k^ivwy fo Kpocros. Antiq. R. 
lib. 2, p. 85. 

3 ApisroKcana^ ysvoiJ.evo$ : lib. 5, p. 266. Beside all this 
Fabius, called Maximus, reduced the populace, who had been 
dispersed among all the other tribes, ii.to four, called the tri- 
busurbanae : by tliis the people lost much influence in elections. 
Livius, lib. 11., c. 46. 

N 2 



180 Review of the Roman State, 

counted against the remaining in every vote as 
ninety-eight to ninety-five ; so that if the first class 
were secured, the others offered an ineffectual oppo- 
sition: it was a scheme, by which one was made the 
majority of six. By this mode of voting, another 
capital distinction was superadded to the original one 
between patricians and plebeians: then stood on 
either side not only the noble and ignoble, but the 
rich and the less rich, which soon ended in the rich 
and the destitute. 

It would appear from the account of Dionysius of 
Halicarnassus, that even under Romulus the ple- 
beians had httle power or consequence ; he likens 
them to the penestai^ among the Thessalians, and 
to the thetes among the Athenians ; these were de- 
grading' names ; but, says the same historian, he 
artfully gave them a fair appellation, and called the 
authority of the patricians over the people patro- 
nage. The situation of the plebeians and patricians 
had in many respects a great similarity to that of 
lords and vassals in the feudal times : indeed in 
some respects the services v;ere identical ; the ple- 
beians were to provide fortunes for their patron's 

^ Dion. Halicar. lib. 2, c 9. Of the thetes Plutarch speaks 
in miserable terms. He says, that they were obliged to pay 
the sixth of the produce of their lands to the rich, or to engage 
their persons to their creditors, Solon, 



Review of the Roman State, 181 

daughter', if the patron were poor; and If he or 
his son were made captive, they were to ransom 
him at their own expense. The client was not to 
give evidence against the patron, and the patron was 
to be the client's advocate when called to justice. 

The coincidence between the two orders in an- 
cient and modern times is still more ofFensively 
strong in other respects. The patricians treated the 
people as outcasts and aliens. It may be said, this 
could not be, for were they not permitted to share the 
chief offices of the state ? and had they not tribunes 
to defend their rights ? On the return of the people 
from the Sacred Mount they were permitted to 
nominate two tribunes, who, with three colleagues, 
were always to be chosen by the people. These 
gave some determination to the objects and interests 
of the people ; but observe, the tribunes, who were 
at first two, were increased thirty-six years after the 
creation of the office to ten. The power of the 
tribunes was merely negative, and by increasing 
their number the consequence of the tribunate was 
diminished : for if all the tribunes did not concur, 
that is, if any one of them dissented from his as- 
sociates, the opposition of the others was nugatory "". 
The tribunes were city magistrates : they could 

^ Dion. Halicar. lib. 2, c. 10. Plutarch, Romulus. 
^Polybius and Plutarch (Tiberius Gracchus) say^ if ony 
viented, the vote of the rest was ineffectual. 



182 Review of the Uoman State. 

exercise no jurisdiction beyond it's limits, nor were 
they permitted to sleep out of the city, which pro^ 
hibition Dionysius of Halicarnassus says continued 
to his time'. 

That the senate and patricians treated the ple^ 
beians contemptuously, even while they admitted 
them with extreme reluctance to be eligible to 
many official situations, there can be no doubt. 
This conduct is common to the aristocracy of every 
state. " Do you think it possible,*' says Demo- 
sthenes'^, " that the few should be friendly to the 
many, and that they who are anxious to command 
can be friends to equality ?" No casualty in the 
whole course of human knowledge has ever invalid 
dated this observation. The contempt of the patri- 
cians for the people continued, and in some mea- 
sure increased. They would not permit the people 
to contract marriages with them ; they affirmed, 
that they wanted auspices^ as if, said the plebeians, 
we were odious to the Gods^. Thus lately catho- 
lics were not permitted to intermarry in Ireland 

^Livius, lib. 2, c. 33. The tribunes had no jurisdiction 
beyond the city, nor were they permitted to sleep out of it : 
which Dion. Hal. says continued to his time. Lib. 8, c. 37. 

®De Rhod. Libert, p. 146. 

^ Lib. 4, c. 6 5 lib. Q, c. 41 j Livius. Thus when Corinth 
was subject to an aristocracy, the members of it married among 
themselves. Herodotus, lib. 5, c. 92. 

* Livius, lib. 4, c. 6. 



Eevievj of the Roman State, 183 

with protestants. Nor would the patricians by any 
means admit them to exercise the sacerdotal office : 
"This, they affirmed/' saysLivy', "regarded rather 
the Gods than themselves, and that it behoved them 
to see, that the holy things might not be polluted, 
lest destruction should attend the commonwealth." 
Tyranny is never complete, until God is made in- 
terested in the selfishness of man. 

There never was that consent between the orders 
of the Roman state to which Polybius alludes : on 
the contrary, their refuge from their own dissen- 
sions was hostilities abroad. " Foreign wars being 
ended," says Dionysius of Halicarnassus% " civil 
broils arose." This was so eternally the sequel, that 
the observation of Isocrates^ on the Triballians, 
"that they were never agreed at home, except when 
confederated to pillage some neighbouring nation/' 
is exactly suited to the Roman state. 

This disposition to war proceeded, as it commonly 
does, from the radical defects of the constitution, 
and from the defects, which I have before specified, 
of dividing the people into patricians and plebeians, 
and into rich and poor. The poor and the ple- 
beians, being oppressed, were uneasy ; and they 
were clamorous when their miseries were greatly 
aggravated. The senate, to avoid forcing the 

'Uh. 10, c. 6. «Lib. 6, p. 344. Livius, lib. 2, c. 39. 

^ Panath, p. 430. 



3 84 Review of the Roman State, 

people to revolt, and yet determined not to forbear 
their oppression, fomented causes of quarrel with 
foreign states ; and thus for the time, by discharg- 
ing the people's rage abroad, they escaped them- 
selves the impetuosity of their resentment. But 
this temporary expedient increased the misery of 
the people, " as the citizens, until the year 347, 
were obliged to serve in the army without pay 
from the state. Frequent wars reduced the less 
rich to narrower circumstances, while the poor 
were ruined ; for during war the people's land 
was left untiiled, and their crops neglected, or the 
incursions of the enemy destroyed them, while the 
spoils of war were scanty or soon dissipated. Still 
they were enrolled ; they first mortgaged their lands, 
and afterward their persons : thence the cry against 
usurers and the rich, who, sitting at home idle 
spectators of the hardships of their fellow-citizens, 
seized the lands, which v;ere not redeemed, or 
enslaved the debtor^ if personal security had been 
given and forfeited. Is it then wonderful they 
should complain, that, while they fought abroad 
for liberty and empire, at home they lost their "for- 
tunes and themselves, and that to them war v/as less 
grievous than peace, enemies than friends ? So 
wholly was this state employed in war, that it might 
be called it's existence. Plutarch, in his Life of 
Numa, says, that the temple of Peace was never 



Review of the Roman Sinte, 185 

shut before the reign of Augustus' : Suetonius, 
that the temple of Janus, which means the same, 
was shut only twice from the foundation of Rome, 
until his dominion ; and that, the second time, it 
was opened the same year that it had been closed. 

The people never had any effectual authority in 
the state. They or their tribunes might raise a 
tumultj and Gracchus or Clodius traverse it's admi- 
nistration, or even m^enace the dissolution of the 
state : but stable absolute power, sufficient to coun- 
terbalance the senate, they never enjoyed. When 
they summoned their strength they were seldom 
successful ; their claims were disregarded or eluded, 
for they were frequently the dupes of the crafty 
patricians. Thus when the state was in danger, 
and the plebeians thought that this gave them an 
opportunity to have their grievances redressed, I 
mean those debts cancelled by the state, which they 
had incurred in fighting for it's safety or dominion, 
they refused to enrol themselves, till they received 
a surety to this purpose. A dictator is chosen% 
they are given fair words, they relent, the legions 
are completed, and they return victorious. On re- 
minding the senators of their promises, and claim- 
ing their, accomplishment, they are denied. Again, 
and again for a third time, the same claims wei'e 

^Suetonius, lib. 2, 0,29. '^Liviiis,, lib. 2, c. 30. 



1S6 Review of the Roman State, 

made on the part of the people, and answered by 
the same duplicity on the part of the senate. The 
frauds on their expectations were gross, reiterated, 
and immediately succeeded each other. 

Thus the people fought and conquered : and the 
rich anticipated the events equally of victory or 
defeat, as by the loan of money at great interest 
they secured to themselves the spoils either of the 
enemy or of their fellow-citizens. Even when lands 
were taken by the army, the patrician and the opu- 
lent possessed themselves nearly of the whole, con- 
trary to jusdce, humanity, and the express provi- 
sions of the Licinian law\ Thus the agrarian 
foundation of the state, which required that none 
should possess more or less than a certain territory, 
was destroyed : thus the people became gradually 
poorer and more wretched, till at last they sunk into 
a rabble supported by public charity, amused with 
shows, and even more abject than the Csrites, who 
had the title of citizens of Rome, but not their 
privileges\ Having traced the origin and progress 

* Made in 386. Plutarch says, that, in the early ages of 
Rome, when it's people acquired territory by arms, part was 
soW, part was added to the public domains, paft was distri- 
buted to the poorer citizens. Tiberius Gracchus. 

^Aulus GeUius, lib. ]6, c. ]3. The satirist's account of 
the Roman populace in his time, in which he mentions panem 
»t circenses, is nearly a translation of Demosthenes—/^ they 



Review of the Roman State, 1 8*7 

of the Roman people, I shall briefly pursue the 
fortune of the senate. 

This body was at first probably elected, and con- 
sisted of one hundred. It was afterward increased 
perhaps to two hundred, on the union of the Sa- 
bines with the Romans, By Tarquin it was en- 
larged to three hundred. These members last added 
were called senatores minorum gentium^ and re- 
sembled in some degree the former senators^ as the 
new burghers at Genoa did those of the older 
families \ The number of senators was diminished 
by the executions of the kings % and recruited by 
Brutus in his consulship to their former complement 
of three hundred, by introducing the chiefs of the 
equestrian order into the senate. These so added 
were called the conscript fathers, and at this num^ 
ber they continued for a considerable time. 

I have observed, that this body made frequent 
and direct attempts against the liberty of the people, 
I have also intimated, that the establishment of a 
dictator was one of their many artifices to the same 
effect. This magistrate, whether elected seemingly 
to quell an insurrection % or to resist the passing of 

regard you as serving men^ satisfied with participating the 
theatrical funds^ and the scraps of meat occasionally sent to 
you." Olynth. 3, p. 39. 

^ Keysler's Travels, letter 38, "Liviusj lib, 2, c. 1, 

^Livius, lib. 2, c. IS. 



188 Revieiu of the Roman State. 

the Licinian law', or from whatever motive at any 
time, was origmally intended to serve the patricians 
at the expense of the people^. They recommended 
the office' artfully for the general , advantage^ and 
the people as usual v/ere duped by their insidious- 
ness. A dictator was a tyrant ; and to his other 
intolerable prerogatives, after the battle of Cannae, 
in which eighty senators were killed, he obtained a 
right to nominate to the senate^. At first of course 
the tyrant employed his power discreetly ; he filled 
up the vacancies in the senate by those who had 
obtained the curule offices, then by those who had 
served the edileship. These being all nominated, 
he chose the tribunes of the people, and so- on, till 
he had completed the constitutional number of the 
senate\ But the senators, by naming a dictator for 
their own treacherous purposes, had sealed their 
own ruin, and named their own executioner. It 
was in consequence of their dictatorial power of 
appointing absolutely the senators, that from time 
to time dictators and censors, under pretence of 
purifying the senate^, utterly corrupted it. Thus 

^ » Livius, lib.;, c. 22. *Ibid. lib. 6, c.37, 38. 

Mbid. lib. 6, C.6. 

*Octoginti Cannse praeterea aut senatores, aut qui eos magl- 
stratus gessissent, unde in senatum lege deberent. Liviu*^ 
Jib. 22, c. 49. 

^Ibid. lib. 2g, c. 5^. 



Review of the Roman State, 189 

from three hundred it was increased to four, five, 
six, nine hundred, and in the time of Augustus it 
contained one thousand ^ Thus boys and gray- 
beards^ slaves and parasites, were mingled in the 
same assembly with the freest minds and the bravest 
virtue of the world. 

The review of the Roman state, beside the in- 
finite circumstances and conclusions it suggests, 
shows most manifestly the disposition of kings to 
become despots, of the aristocracy to domineer, of 
the people to be duped, oppressed, and debased. 
It shows also, that the combination of the three 
orders, monarchy, aristocracy, and democracy, 
which Polybius peculiarly attributes to the state, if 
it ever had any existence, was most transitory : and 
it seems to me a solecism in language to say, that 
they, or any two of them, however united, could 
for any time harmonize together. Two may oc- 
casionally combine against a third ; but if they be 
successful, they will immediately quarrel with each 
other. At one time we find a Roman king attempt- 
ing tyranny over people and senate : at other times 
we find the king associating with the people against 
the aristocracy, and at another with the aristocracy 
against the people. The Idng's office on the death 
of Romulus having ceased, we find the aristocracy 



VSuetonius, lib. 2, c. 49. He reduced them to six hundred. 



190 Revieiu of the Roman State, 

attempting to exercise the prerogatives of royalty in 
their own persons ; and we also find, that, after 
the final banishment of kings^, the people forfeited 
their authority in the state to the ambition of the 
senate. Neither in the Roman nor in any other 
state, I repeat it, have monarchy, aristocracy, aud 
democracy, or any two of them, ever regularly 
possessed coordinate power. If they were regular 
in their proceedings, they were not coordinate ; if 
coordinate, they were at variance. Hobbes', re- 
flecting on this combination, says, " that such a 
government is not a government, but a division of 
the commonwealth split into three factions called 
mixed monarchs ;" and I entirely coincide with Ta- 
citus % that, if they were united, they could not 
long retain their distinct independence, as they 
would necessarily encroach on each other's au- 
thority, and conquer or be overpowered. This has 
been the uniform catastrophe ; not only of the 
Roman state, but of all the Gothic kingdoms raised 
or the ruins of the Roman empire, whether called 
mixed or limited monarchies, or, according to Puf- 
fendorf, irregular monarchies. 

My object is now I think clearly ascertained, so 
far at least, that I would not establish a monarchy, 
which sacrifices many to one, or an aristocracy, 
which increases the grievance by the increased num- 

» Leviathan, part. 2, c. 29. ^ Annal. lib. 4, c. 33. 



Influence of Climate on Laivs^ &c, 191 

ber of rulers, or a democracy^ which changes a 
people into a multitude, or any of them combined 
or confounded together, for the government of 
nations. It is my object, to frame a commonwealth, 
founded on unlimited liberty, and universal subor- 
dination. In such a state, though uniformity would 
not always be preserved, revolutions and insurrec- 
tions could not harass mankind, and distract the 
land. The rivers which intersect it's territory 
would not occasionally sweep away their banks, and 
pursue untried courses \ Neither would storms and 
tempests, which break up the channels of the deep, 
and sink the earth in the abyss, destroy it's seaports 
and inundate it's fields ; but airs and currents moved 
by knov/n laws at varying intervals with endless 
vicissitude would preserve the v/hole in purity and 
stability for ever. 

Before I develop what I conceive to be most 
likely to secure this envied situation, it is necessary 
to notice some opinions, which, if true, would 
confine v/ithin very contracted limits the possibility 
of it's adoption. 

CONCERNING CLIMATE, AS INFLUENCING LAWS 
AND POLITICAL INSTITUTIONS. 

Many lawgivers, it is said, have formed their re- 
gulations in reference to the climate, soil, and situa- 

' Pallas speaks thus of the impetuosity of the Soura, Travel?, 
• vol. 1, p. 37. 



132 Influence of Climate on Laius^ &c, 

tion of the country for which they legislated. On 
the contrary I believe^ that they have rather stooped 
their judgment to the prejudices of the people, or 
ignorantly adopted their own, incapable either of 
raising other men's minds to their own apprehen- 
sion of rectitude, or of elevating their own minds 
above the errours of their education. In the same 
spirit it has been said^ that legislators should have 
special regard, in framing their laws and institu- 
tions, to the soil, situation, and climate of coun- 
tries. Piiysical and accidental circumstances are 
not to be overlooked in specific codes ; and unfor- 
tunately in practical legislation there are headstrong 
prejudices and inveterate errours, which must not 
be disregarded : but the latter are foreign to theo- 
retic inquiries of this kind, while physical circum- 
stances apply to both practical and speculative ju- 
risprudence.. I would not however have it for a 
moment supposed, that they are as important as 
many waiters have endeavoured to evince. 

Climate is certainly not indifferent. It may per- 
haps in some degree affect the character of men in- 
habiting various regions of the Earth, as the various 
seasons of the year affect the character of those who 
inhabit the same nation. In summer men in cur 
country pass more time in the open air than in win- 
ter ; and there is in spring a sensible increase of 
hilarity through all orders of people. Thus tem- 



Influence' of Climate on Laivs^ &c. 193 

perate climates may relate to the inclement as our 
summers to our winters ; and by a parity of reason- 
ing we might expect, that the inhabitants of tem- 
perate climates would enjoy better health and be 
more constant and cheerful, than those who re- 
sided in countries where the winters are compara- 
tively long, and the weather changeable and severe. 
The climate must in many cases change the disposi- 
tion of men, and reverse their apprehension. A 
Laplander, or one who inhabited the North of Si- 
beria, could never imagine, that Eden, the abode 
of the blessed in the days of fancied innocence, was 
on the slope of hills, or along the banks of rivers, 
Odin's Paradise, the spacious hall and the intoxi- 
cating draughts, would suit their temperament 
much better. While on the contrary they who 
dwell near the Euphrates, or reside in Sicily, the 
original seat of pastoral poetry, would express as 
much repugnauce to such northern delights, as they 
would feel congeniality to the happy scenes, which 
Theocritus drew from actual life, and which the 
genius of Milton imagined. We might pursue 
these remarks much further. The sun, it has been 
said, was generally adored by the nations of the 
world, and history justifies the observation ; but we 
should not expect, that they who are scorched be- 
neath the line should adore this luminary, except as 
a demon whose wrath they would avert 5 and are 

VOL. I, o 



194? Infiuenct of Climale on Laws^ &c, 

we not told by Herodotus, that the Atlantes^ exe- 
crate the sun when most intense, because they and 
their country are exhausted by it's rays ? 

That the climate influences both body and mind, 
there can be no doubt. A warm climate increases 
the passion for the sex. This is generally noticed 
in Europe, in Asia, and in America. Hearne' says, 
that the southern Indians are remarkably libidinous, 
while the northern are the reverse. On this some 
have defended the practice of polygamy in southern 
latitudes. Such persons betray great insufficiency 
for political speculations. Does the south excite 
desires only in the men ? If, on the contrary, it 
equally excites the appetency of females, which it 
assuredly does, the same reason, which gives to 
man many wives, should give to woman many 
husbands, so that the influence of climate in this 
respect leaves the case as it found it ? If the climate 
increase man's passions, it increases woman's also ; 
and by enabling her to meet his embraces with equal 
ardour, the just society of one woman and one man, 
so far as climate and passions are concerned, is 
clearly established in ihe cold, in the warm, and 
in the temperate latitudes of the Earth. 

* Lib: 4, c, 184. Diod. Siculu% lib. 3, says, that wlifcn the 
sun 1 i.^es, they rim hito their marshes, and curse the sun as 
their f-nemy , 

* Journal, &c. p. 125. 

8 



Influence of Climute on Laws^ &^» 195 

Some have imputed to climate still more extraor- 
dinary consequences than polygamy. Chardin' says, 
for instance, that the inhabitants of very hot cli- 
mates are incapable of great bodily exertions. Such 
remarks are frequently induced by the effect, which 
sultry regions have upon those, who have been ac- 
customed to a milder atmosphere. 

I am sorry to mention Aristotle among those, 
who apply a thermometer to the laws and policy of 
nations. He states as a fact, that they who inhabit 
cold countries, as Europe, possess more spirit, and 
are more free^ though less ingenious, than those 
who inhabit warmer countries. He then particula- 
rizes the Asiatics, who excel in curious arts, while 
they have been always enslaved. Thus he incul- 
cates physical predestination. But when he adds, 
that those nations, which are situate between both, 
as the Greeks, participate equally the vigour of one 
and the ingenuity of the other, I fear I perceive the 
cOTiceit of the Grecians, who called all nations bar- 
barous but themselves% The unmeaning remark 

* Voyage en Perse, c. 7. 

* De Repub. lib. 7, c. 7. Thus Plato says ; Oar country U 
suited to produce every virtue : 00$ rotov £%o/^ey rwv 'EaAtjvo;/ 
Ttpo^ aperrjv svroig (T'/j^hv api^-ov. Epinomis, p. 1012. He 
however admits, that the barbarians preceded the Greeks in 
many inventions 3 but, says he, as the English say of themselve* 
and the French, th^ Greeks perfected all ti^t ^y invented. 



196 Influence of Climate on Laws^ CSc. 

of Isocrates^ Is much better ; he simply says, that 
the Greeks cannot endure a monarchy, while other 
nations cannot regulate their affairs without it. 

I have in a former work, in criticising the Spirit 
of Laws by Montesquieu, declared my opinion fully 
on this topic"" ; and I should have merely referred 
to that performance, if I did not think, that every 
book should answer for itself. I have treated the 
question differently in both, though my conclusion 
is the same. I believe, that climate has considerable 
effect simply considered ; but that the different de- 
grees of temperature of the air determine the cha- 
racter and ability of mankmd in a moral and politi- 
cal view, I am persuaded is controvertible by the 
evidence of history, and by existing facts. Free 
and enterprising nations have flourished under the 
fury of an unrelenting sun, while in the cold and 
temperate regions slavery has for ages and centuries 
oppressed a wretched people : and do we not see, 
that the same identical climate is at once suspended 

*Ad Philippura, p. 188, Opera. Plato^ according to cus- 
tom, speaks of countries being inipregnated by a certain divine 
inspiration, ^zicc r*; sitiitvo^oL, and of certain friendly and un- 
friendly demons j De Legib. lib. 5, p. 853 j to whom he at- 
tributes wonderful effects. Proclus inTimaeum, p. 31, who, 
when he finds Plato insane, drives him mad, talks of certain 
cumulative divinhies ; xara rryv ayBXccioy.o>JAy,YjV tw^ ^emv 
STTiratrtav, &:c. 

* jtndependent Man, vol. 1. 



Concerning Situation. 197 

over the free and the enslaved, giving contemporary, 
successive, and alternate life both to the exalted and 
the fallen ? 

CONCERNING SITUATION. 

The situation of countries has also occupied the 
attention of theorists ) and some of them have pre- 
ferred mountains and uncouth territories, because 
tribes and nations so placed have retained their li- 
berty, while others on their confines more gratefully 
situate have been overpowered by domestic or fo- 
reign tyrants. History affords many curious in-= 
stances of this kind ; nor are the least remarkable 
to be found among the Asiatics, whom ancients and 
moderns have thought devoted to slavery by nature. 
Raynal ' says, that the inhabitants of the plains of 
Ceylon are subjected, while those who reside in the 
mountains have never permitted either Asiatics or 
Europeans to invade their country with impunity. 
Thus the Usii, who lived in the open country in the 
time of Alexander ^ had been subdued by the Per- 
sians, while the mountaineers in their vicinity obliged 

^Histoire Pol. &c. de Deux Indes, t. 2, p. 86. I may add 
the following to those enumerated in the text. The Cartha- 
ginians, says Diod. Sicul. lib. 5, though very powerful in Sar- 
dinia, could never reduce the lolaeans, who fled with their 
flocks to the mountains, and they afterward preserved their 
liberty against the Romans. 

'Arrian, Alexand. Exped. lib. 3, c. 17. 
3 



198 Concerning Situation* 



& 



even the victorious Greeks to purchase a passage 
through their country. Thus also the Maronites^, 
who inhabit mountains, though situate amidst na- 
tions oppressed by the Turkish empire, have never 
had their Hberty impaired by foreign or domestic 
tyrants. But we find the most memorable example 
of this kind in the Curds, who in the earliest times 
scorned the forces of the great king, who were also 
the most dangerous enemies which the celebrated 
ten thousand encountered on their retreat under 
Xenophcn^ and who^, asNiebuhr"^ and Voiney^ say, 
are now as independent of the grand seignor as 
formerly they were of the Persian monarch. Yet 
though these are memorable instances, though it is 
also granted, that mountaineers are generally of 
more athletic form and of a corresponding vigour 
of mind, as Turner has remarked*, and as is ma- 
nifest, when we compare the inhabitants of Bengal, 
feeble in thought and action, with the highlanders 
of Boutan their neighbours, robust and unbending ; 
though we likewise believe, on the credit of Thucy- 
dides% that of the hundred and fifty thousand troops 

^ Volney, Voyage en Syrie, t. 1, p, 415. 
•Travels, t. 2, p. 268, French version. He says also, that 
they have always been governed by their own princes, 
^ Voyir^e en Syrie, t. 1, p. 363. 
♦Turner's Embassy to Tibet, Introd. p. 6. 
fLib. 2, p. 167. 



Concerning Situation* 199 



"& 



led by Sitalces the free inhabitants of the mountain 
Rhodope were the bravest ; though we know that 
the Satras^ who inhabited lofty mountains in 
Thrace, were never subdued, — ^llirace, which the 
Grecian orators ever proposed to their countrymen 
to be conquered when and in what proportion they 
pleased "" ; and though Tacitus distinguishes the 
Catti for their mountainous situation, and for the 
superiority of their nerves and courage before all 
the Germans ; we should not prefer a mountainous 
inhospitable region, although they whom I have 
enumerated, being so situate, were free among 
slaves, or the freest among free men, and though 
freedom is .the supreme object of every generous 
nature. 

Mountaineers have often enjoyed their freedom 
not as some have imagined merely from some inde- 
scribable virtues inhaled in their exalted station. 
They are partly removed from many dangers, to 
which those on the plain are exposed. Thus it 
often happens^ that nations on the seacoast are 
conquered, while those in mediterranean situations 
remain free ; as Thucydides^ remarks of the inland 

^Herodotus, lib. 7, c. 30. 

'Isocraies dePace, p. 275- When Alcibiades was banished, 
he collected some troops, and made war on them on his own 
account. Plutarch, Alcibiades. 

3 Lib. 6, p. 474, 



200 ConcerniJig Situation. 

Sicilians, who, he observed, were never subdued 
by the Syracusans. The difficuhy of access to 
mountains has the same effect, and is sometimes a 
much stronger impediment than remoteness from 
the foe. It is not merely because men are high- 
landers, that they are enterprising and free, it is not 
the constitution of the men so much as the strength 
of their positions. The Miaogsee, when they de- 
scend into the plains, are always beaten by the 
Chinese, who never attempt pursuing them into 
their mountains \ In like manner in the island of 
Hainan, though the Chinese defeat the natives on 
the plains, mountains protect their retreat"^ ; and to 
the inaccessibility of mountains is also attributed the 
independence of a people inhabiting part of the 
fifteenth province of that empire\ So speaks Fe- 
rishta of those people, who inhabit the Carnatic^ ; 
and Paolino of the states on the Malabar coast"* : 
their countries are so intersected with mountains, 
and so beset with fastnesses and forests, that tjiey 

^Du Halde's Hist, of China, vol. 1, p. 62. 

2 Ibid. vol. 1, p. 247. 'Jbid. vol. I, p. 264. 

* History of Dekkan^ vol. 1, p. 45. 

^Voyage to the East Indies by da san Barlolomeo Paoliqo, 
p. 104, Eng. Version. Pallas mentions the same of the Ka- 
bardines. Travels, vol. 1, p. 383, Shaw thinks, that the 
Kabyles are the native Africans, who preserved themselves un- 
mixed and unsubdued in consequence of the nature of thei?" 
country. Travels, p. %2'2f. 



Co7icernlng Situatioiu 201 

are impregnable. And to the same causes the 
W Ish and Scotch were obliged for their protracted 
liberty. Similar circumstances restrained the Moors 
from overrunning the Asturias, Biscay, and Gui- 
puscoa. It was not the mountaineers so much as 
the mountains, which, running east and west, 
checked their progress ', as they hacl frequently cen- 
turies before obstructed the Carthaginians, the 
Romans and the Goths : and may they again 
strengthen the desperate resolution of that brave 
people, to resist the tyranny of that wretch, who 
unites in his character the nepotism of the popes, the 
ferocious ambition of Attib, with unrelenting ven- 
geance, perfidy, and insidiousness peculiarly his 
own! 

That the liberty which mountaineers frequently 
enjoy may commonly be attributed to the difficulty 
of their situation, we are led to imagine by observ- 
ing, that nations preserved their liberty, who had 
i^othing common with mountaineers but a situation 
equally difficult of access : as those Egyptians w^ho 
inhabited the fens and marshes, and who alone of 
all their countrymen resisted the Persian arms". 
Thus in another quarter of the world the Batavians 
were the most successful adversaries of the Roman 
power, nor were they ever treated as a concjuered 

' To wnsend's Travels, vol. 1, p. 24^. 
•Thucydides, lib. 1, p. 71. 



202 Concerning Soil, 

people. Look also to the Arabians^ who possess a 
country equally unlike the swamps of Egypt and 
Batavia, and the mountains of Asia and Europe, 
yet have ever possessed their liberty unimpaired^ : 
their adust deserts are not less arduous and insupe- 
rable to enemies, than marshes and mountains. 

There is also another reason, why mountaineers 
have generally been more fortunate in preserving 
their freedom than the inhabitants of the plain. 
The latter part of the following quotation from 
Arrian declares the cause"". " None," says that 
historian^ " ever enter the country of the Mardi in 
a hostile manner, partly on account of the rugged- 
ness of their country, partly on account of the 
poverty of it's inhabitants/' From such people and 
countries much is to be suffered, nothing to be 
gained. 

CONCERNING SOIL. 

As such inhospitable situations have been pre- 
ferred by some theorists to others more accessible 

'Xiphilin, p. 6, says, that Pompey subdued the Arabians : 
and PJutarch^ that he conquered them by his lieutenant. 
This is a mistake Diod. Siculus, lib. 1, says, that Seso- 
stris conquered Arabia : yet in his second book he says_, 
the Nabalean Arabs were never subdued, and that neither the 
kings of Persia nor tiie kings of Macedonia could ever subdue 
Arabia. 

« Alexand. See. lib. 3., c. 24. 



Concernins: Soil. 203 



"£> 



and grateful, so have unproductive lands been pre- 
ferred to those easily cultivated and naturally abun- 
dant. That a fruitful soil loses it's prerogatives of 
plenty when suffering a bad government, and that 
liberty does much more than compensate the most 
extraordinary advantages that can be derived from 
soil and situation, no thinking man can for a n-io- 
ment deny ; yet I cannot by any means imagine, 
that the fruitfulness of a soil necessarily produces 
the political evils, which some have imputed to it. 
The opinion v/hich I resist is not a casual remark, 
suggested by persons of no depth and discrimina- 
tion ; it may enumerate respectable names among 
it's advocates. Thucydides^ countenances the sup- 
position^ when he says, that the richest lands are 
always most subject to revolutions ; and he attri- 
butes to the sterility of Attica it's continued exemp- 
tion from seditions. Xenophon* however affirmed, 
that the Athenian territory was most fruitful : ia 
this he is unauthorised^ ; but the common opinion at 
least has been, that few people deserve less to be 
praised for their tranquillity and moderation. Per- 

* Lib. 1, p. 2. This I suppose to be the passage alluded to 
by MaxiQius Tyrius, Dissert. 13, p. l65. 

* De Proventibus, p. 920, Opera Omnia. 

^^schines says, that it's honey and oil are good, but it's 
wine indifferent. Epist. 5. The Aiheniaus raised little coj-n, 
and their country seems to have bcsn subject to droughts, De- 
moslh. a<lv. Polyclem, p. 1002. 



204 Concerning \ Soil, 

haps, after having mentioned Thucydides, the name 
of Herodotus might be omitted ; though the his- 
torian, by making his opinion on this subject con- 
clude his narrative, gives it peculiar weight. He 
says, that the Persians addressed Cyrus, requesting 
him to permit them, now that their dominion was 
unbounded, to change their confined and uncom- 
fortable country for one more commodious. Cyrus 
answered, that they had his permission ; but he ad- 
monished them, that by so doing they must prepare 
. their minds to change their empire for subjection, 
as luxurious soils nourished effeminacy, and rich 
harvests and brave men were not the produce of 
the same land. 

That luxury is less likely to affect a poor than 
an opulent land simply considered, there can be 
no doubt. But is not want as grievous as profusion, 
and hunger as plethory ? When men speak of soil 
and situation in this manner, they seem to have 
thought, that laws, government, and education de- 
served no regard. A rich soil and voluptuous 
habits have no necessary connexion. The fertility 
of many provinces of China does not induce luxury 
in their inhabitants ; though in countries compara- 
tively barren, where herediiary prerogatives, and 
primogeniture, and such insolent and gothic cus- 
toms are established, luxury is most pernicious to 
the interests of the people. If man be properly de* 



Concerninsr SoiL 203 



-t> 



fined a rational being ; if he be not, like the lowest 
insect tribes, which actually depend for their life 
and appearance on the season and the hour, on the 
nature of the shrub, and on the composition of the 
clod on which they feed and repose ; if his life be 
not for a day, nor his subsistence a leaf ; if custom 
do not make him a native of all climates, situations, 
and soils ; why should we conclude, that the fer- 
tility of the land, the benefaction of Providence, 
should be unsuitable to man's Hberty and virtue ? 
Would you be temperate, regard not the blessings 
of nature like anachorites ; look to your laws and 
institutions. Sybaris was once equally remarkable 
for it's fertility, it's luxury, it's insurrections, and 
it's revolutions' 5 but it's government was an ari- 
stocracy, which distributed the honours and em- 
ployments of the state in the most worthless 
manner. Observe what followed. Sybaris changed 
it's inhabitants, and with them it's constitution : 
the aristocracy was succeeded by a republic, and 
then, says Diodorus Siculus ', " Sybaris was not 
less remarkable for it's opulence, than for the 
good conduct of it's inhabitants." I therefore con- 
clude in the words of Dionysius of Hahcarnassus, 
which he imputes to Romulus^ : " I have heard, that 

^ Diod. Siculus, lib. 12, c. 76. ^ Ibid. c. 78. 

^ Kat oute rxig evTrpocyiaig rxv oXiya;v srs roag ovcrrvyLcci^ 
T'jjv ttoAawv; ttefCiy ri Tj r^jj iroXevjs (Tyr.u.%'. lib, 2, c, 3. It was 



205 Concevning SoiL 

many populous coIcnieS;, which settled in a fruitful 
;K>il, have been enslaved, while others less populous, 
but possessing less productive lands, have not only 
preserved their freedom inviolate, but subjected 
ethers : yet my opinion is, that the misfortune of 
one and the fortune of the other resolve themselves 
into the constitution of their respective states." 

It is strange to me, that writers shonld ascribe 
the laziness or industry of nations to the unproduc- 
tiveness or to the abundance of the land they in- 
habit, when so true and obvious a solution is given 
in the nature of their governments. Yet Sir VvTm. 
Temple' attributed the industry of the Dutch to 
their necessitous situation, in v^'hich he is followed 
by Brougham''. Temple however, though inad- 
vertently perhaps, corrects his errour by referring 

an ancient opinion, that there was an indescribable virtue in 
the country about the Eurotas, and in that which lay between 
Babyce and Cnacion (that is Lacedsemon) : but when the 
Thebans conquered the Spartans,, this opinion ceased. Plu- 
tarch, Pelopidas. 

* Account of the Netherlands, c. Q. 

'Colonial Policy, vol. i, p. 285. Sir Wm. Petty, on the- 
contrary, shot/s, that their opulence principally proceeds from 
the commodiousness of their situation for trade. He says, 
*' that there is scarcely any place of work or business in Hol- 
land and Zealand, which pay sixty*,seven parts of the hundred 
paid by the United Provinces, a mile distant from a navigable 
river. — ^That they are situate at the mouths of three long na- 



Concerning; Soil, 207 



"& 



on another occasion the greatness of the United Pro- 
vinces to the good choice of the chief officers in 
the cities and districts, and to the simplicity of their 
lives'. But is it not obvious, that such persons and 
such conduct depend on the popular nature of the 
government ? I have not however discovered, that 
Temple has likewise reformed his judgment con- 
cerning Ireland ; for he attributed the idleness of 
the Irish to the exuberance of their soil, and I have 
with pain and resentment heard every cause assigned 
but the true one by a vast majority of writers for 
the exaggerated neglect and poverty of that people. 
It is surprising how little Ireland is known.. Towns- 
end^, who from his early itinerant mission in that 
island might have been better informed, talking of 
a district of Spain, says : " this part of the country 
is a hungry sand ; all arable, but too poor and too 

vigable rivers, passing through rich countries — that the soil of 
Holland and Zealand is lowland, riph and fertile." Political 
Arithmetic, p 171. 

* Works, vol. 1, p. 134. 

^Travels in Spain, vol. 1, p. 22. There is no end to the 
ignorance and petulance of writers with regard to Ireland. 
Willich, in his Encyclopaedia, talking of to\vns printing news- 
papers, article Newspapers, says Leinster prints one. Here 
the learned writer considers a province as a city. This is a 
greater mistake than v. hat Fuller mentions, that foreigners 
otten conceive, that London is an island, aad that England ')$> 
the metropolis. 



^OS Concerning Soil 



£> 



light for wheat ; and all open common field, tx>t 
divided as in England and all over Europe, except- 
ing Ireland, in small scattered lots/' That is to 
say, Ireland presents an appearance such as no 
other European country exhibits. Why did not 
the traveller add to this strange country something 
more to increase the monster ? He might have taken 
up the story from Othello : 

Of my redemption thence 
And portance in my travel's history 5 
Wherein of antres vast, and deserts idle, 
Kough quarries, rocks and hills whose heads touch Heav'n j 
And of the cannibals that eat each other, &c„ 

This latter part was unnecessary, as it has been 
accomplished in a great measure by other writers* 
Thus Bingley, in a work on Animal Biography*, 
in the second edition quotes from the Philosophical 
Transactions^ that cock-chaiFers, that is beetles, 
came in such abundance to Ireland, that after they 
bad devoured the produce of the land, the natives 
dressed them and fed on them. I should add, that 
from the manner in which Bingley expresses the 
voraciousness of the Hibernians on this occasion, 

*Vol. 3, p. 236. Yet Moses, who would not permit the 
chosen people to eat rabbits, hares, or pigs, admits them to 
eat the bald locust, and the beetle, and the grasshopper. 
Levit. q. 11^ ver. 22c 

*YoL 10, p. 741. 



Concernins: Soil, 209 



-& 



it would seem, that they ate the beetles to retaliate 
the spoliations of those pitiless insects. These are 
however trifles compared to other opinions concern- 
ing Ireland and it's inhabitants ; nor do I beheve, 
that any one, who has animadverted on them, has 
spoken more ignorantly and petulantly than Mal- 
thus. He saysj " the details of the population of 
Ireland are but little known' :" then why has he 
presumed to speak of what he avows is unknown 
to himself and others ? And by what rule of com- 
position or common sense has he tacked his obser- 
vation on Ireland as a paragraph to the tail of a 
chapter, the title of which Jeads the reader to think, 
that Ireland m.ust make a princ pal figure in it's 
contents ? He was not so disrespecdul to Norway i 
that country occupies a considerable portion of a 
whole volume. But he had travelled through Nor- 
way, and had read some details concerning it. 
What then ? Why was Norway studied, and Ire- 
land neglected ? Is Ireland less interesting to the 
English reader, to philosophy, and to the world, 
than Norway ? Had Malthus turned his thoughts at 
all toward Ireland, he would have found, that 
much information on the topics, which he has dis- 
cussed, might have been collected concerning Ire- 
land. He might then aho have gratined at once 

* Malthus, vol. \^ b. 2, c. 10, p. 504, 3d edit. 
YOt. I. P 



210 Concerning Soil, 

his speculations on population, and his contempt of 
Hibernia ; he might have begun his investigations 
with that country, and assigned the same reason 
that Sir Wm. Petty did for his proceeding in the 
same manner^ : " as students in medicine practise 
their inquiries upon cheap and common animals." 

That the reader may fully appreciate the polidcal 
sagacity of Malthus, I shall quote three passages 
from his animadversions on what he calls the potato 
system. 

" The specific cause of the poverty and misery 
of the lower classes of people in France and Ireland 
is, that from the extreme subdivision of property in 
the one country, and the facility of obtaining a 
cabin and potatoes in the other^, a population is 
brought into existence, which is not demanded by 
the quantity of capital and employment in the 
countiy, &c.*" 

" The extended use of potatoes has allowed of 
a very rapid increase of it (population) during the 
last century ^ But the cheapness of this nourish- 
ing root, and the small piece of ground, which 
under this kind of cultivation will on average years 
produce food for a family, joined to the ignorance 
and barbarism of the people, which have prompted 

' Pollt. Anatomy, preface, 
«Vol. 2, b. 4, c. 10, p. 450. 
'Vol. \, b. 2, c. 10, p, 504. 



Cvncernins: SoiL 211 



"O 



them to follow their inclinations with no other pro- 
spect than an immediate bare subsistence, have en- 
couraged marriage to such a degree, that the popu- 
lation is pushed beyond the industry and present 
resources of the country.'* In this latter quotation 
we have the specific cause potatoes, formerly men- 
tioned for the misery of the Irish, assisted by igno- 
rance and barbarism : " the anthropophagi and men 
whose heads do grow beneath their shoulders" are 
summoned to sustain the argument* I cannot avoid 
noticing a flagrant inconsistency even in the errours 
of this writer : the poor Irish are maletreated and 
abused because they are satisfied with a hare sub- 
sistence^ with a cabin and potatoes^ while the same 
writer, where he speaks of the poor-laws in Eng- 
land, is outrageous because the lowest Englishmen 
are epicurean in their habits. 

The third passage is in answer to Young, who 
would feed the people of England on milk and po- 
tatoes : on which Malthus observes, " the wages of 
labour will always be regulated by the proportion 
of the supply to the demand. [He should have 
added, where equal liberty is granted to both.] 
And as upon the potato system' a supply more 
than adequate to the demand would very soon take 
place, and this supply might be continued at a very 

\ Vol. 2, c. 10, p. 458. 
p2 



212 Concerning Soil, 

cheap rate oh account of the cheapness of the food 
which would furnish it, the common price of labour 
would soon be regulated principally by the price of 
potatoes, instead of the price of wheat as at present, 
and the rags and wretched cabins of Ireland would 
follow of course.'' 

I shall now reverse the theme, and quote a pas- 
sage from Adam Smith, whom, from respect to 
the man, and to the science which he has so ad- 
mirably treated, I am sorry to find wholly forgotten* 
Speaking of potatoes he says^ : " Should this root 
ever become in any part of Europe, like rice in 
some rice countries, the common and favourite ve- 
getable food of the people, so as to occupy the 
same proportion of the lands in tillage, which 
wheat and other sorts of grain for human food do 
at present, the same quantitity of cultivated land 
would maintain a much greater number of people ; 
and the labourers being generally fed with potatoes, 
a greater surplus would remain after replacing all 
the stock, and maintaining all the labour employed 
in cultivation. A greater share of this surplus too 
would belong to the landlord. Population would 
increase, and rents would rise much beyond what 
they are at present." Here is Smith in direct op- 
position to Maltbus, or rather Malthus opposed to 

1 Wealth of Nations, b. }, c, U, p. 25;. 



Concerning Soil, -213 



"& 



Smith. Why has not Malthus noticed the contra- 
diction of his system with Smith's ? Had not Mal- 
thus read Smith ? Or was Smith too strong in re- 
putation and argument for him to hazard his talents 
with such a combatant ? . 

It seems most miraculously to have entered into 
the understanding of Malthus, that cheap food, or, 
which he considers the same thing, food easily 
raised, fully accounted for the poverty of nations. 
According to his science the easy cultivation of rice 
caused that poverty, which oppresses the various 
enslaved nations, who are nourished by that grain ; 
and an observation of Barrow ^ in his description of 
China would wonderfully by his management har- 
monize with his theory, as that traveller considers 
riee and potatoes almost equally productive. 

Malthus does not seem to have any surfeited dis- 
gust at potatoes. His distress arises from the ease, 
with which an Irish peasant can raise this crop. 
But is it so easily raised by him ? are a cabin and a 
garden so easily obtained by him ? Three or four 

' Embassy to China, p. 586. Barrow attributes the increased 
population of Ireland from one million to it's present number 
to the production of potatoes, which, he says, give a never- 
failin ; crop : p. 578. This, like most other observations re- 
specting Ireland, is very erroneous. In I8O7, in consequence 
of great rains in August, and frosts in September, the potato 
crop was greatly deficient in quantity and quality. 



214 Concerning Soil, 

pounds a year for a cottage and a rood or half an 
acre of ground is no trifling price to one whose 
wages are from eight pence to a shilling a day. 
This land is cultivated with the spade, and is dug 
over two or three times. Some sort of manure is 
to be collected ; for potatoes will not flourish on 
the bare earth. Neither will the produce of half 
an acre, as those poor people can manure half an 
acre, sustain a family through the year. Besides, 
potatoes begin to fail in their quality about the be- 
ginning of May, when the people are obliged oc- 
casionally to use meal ; and for six weeks or two 
months before the new potatoes are fit to be dug, 
oatmeal is their constant diet. From the tenour of 
Malthus's argument he would have no objection to 
potatoes, if they required as much labour, and gave 
as little nourishment as grain. He will not now 
therefore perhaps think, from my account of the 
culture of potatoes by the Irish peasantry, that they 
are so easily nourished by their potatoes^ as he 
imagined : and when he is informed, that beside the 
rent and labour which they cost them, in many 
places one guinea is frequently charged as tithe for 
an acre of potatoes^, he will have better hopes of the 
clothes and civilization of the ragged barbarous 
Irish for the time to come. 

* Henry Giattan offered to prove this in the house of Cona= 
mons of Ireland^ in ] 793. 



Concernins^ Soil, 215 



"b 



I know not whether Maithus considers his obser- 
vations on the potato system in Ireland a discovery, 
for which he should claim a patent. I can assure 
him he has not even the merit of invention in utter- 
ing this absurd insulting nonsense. A Mr. Tyghe 
about twenty years ago in a pamphlet told the same 
story, that the culture of potatoes was the ruin of 
Ireland ; and the same gentleman wrote a long 
Latin hexameter poem on the cultivation of brocoli. 
Would Mr. Tyghe and Mr. Maithus recommend 
brocoli as a substitute for potatoes to the Irish ? 
Would he prohibit the cultivation of potatoes, this 
root so noxiously wholesome, so criminally produc- 
tive, he would also have a precedent for it, not less 
than a ministry which misruled twenty-five millions 
of people. " The French government," says Jef- 
ferson \ " forbad the potato as food, and emetic 
tartar as a medicine, to the French people.'* I aver, 

^ Notes on Virginia, p. 237, Townsend, in his Travels, 
vol. 2, p. 246, relates an ordinance of the king of Spain, or- 
dering, that an opiate should be administered to the people 
of Carthagena. He adds, " this perhaps is the first instance 
of despotic power controlling the functions of physicians, and 
prescribing uniformity to that class of citizens in the line of 
their profession." Herodotus mentions a law, which con- 
demned physicians to death, who administered any thing con- 
Irai-y to the legal prescription. I believe, that Plato refers to 
these state nostrums in his Politicus, p. 555, 



216 Concerning Soil. 

however, that, if potatoes were prohibited, not only 
one half of the population would perish in the first 
six months, but that rents would sink to half their 
value, and the sources of revenue and commerce 
be almost annihilated. 

That it should ever have crossed the fancy of a 
thinking man, that the opulence of a land should 
cause the poverty of it's inhabitants, is scarcely to 
be believed. Campania, says Dion of Halicarnas- 
sus', produced three crops in the year. How does 
it happen, observes his English translator^ that, if 
Campania v/ere so fertile, we now send corn to it ? 
To which he ansv/ers. The soil is not changed, but 
the government is. Coxe says% that the Valteline 
is as prolific as any part of Europe, yet in no one are 
the peasants more wretched. He does not attribute 
their misery however to the abundance of the land : 
he says, on the contrary, they are wretched in 
despite of it's fertility ; and the cause he assigns for 
this unsuitable appearance of the people is the bad- 
ness of their governm.ent. Nor does Bruce"^ account 
for the poverty of the inhabitants of Adowa and 
Tchagagsa co their triple harvests in the same year, 
but to the civil constitution of affairs. In these 

» Lib. 1, c. 37. '^Spelman, Note on the passage. 

' Travels in Swisserlandj letter ^5. 
* Travels, vol. 3;, c. 7, 



Concerning Soil. 21? 

provinces, he says, the land is annually put up to 
auction, and the highest bidder becomes the tenant ^ 
Yet is not this as grievous as rack rents, and the 
agents of absentees, and middlemen, and clergy* 
men, and bailiffs, and tithe proctors, who in Ireland 
lead up the haggard train of poverty and famine. 

Look to lord Macartney for another solution of 
the miracle— of an exuberant soil inhabited by a 
poor people, which, as usual on such occasions, 
Malthus has deciphered by a paradox. Does Ma- 
cartney follow the mystagogue, and read in the 
configuration of a potato the irretrievable misery 
of Ireland ? His lordship's account is nearly to the 
following effect. In the reign of Henry the Se- 
venth, Poining was sent over to Ireland to do the 
business of his master. With his administration 
arose violence and retaliation, tyranny and ven^ 
geance, and Poining's name among sanguinary legis- 
lators takes precedence of Draco. It then became 
the policy and passion of the English government 
to extirpate the records of Ireland, and with them 
the affections of the Irish for their native land. 
Baron Finglass, in the reign of Henry the Eighth, 
in his Breviate of Ireland, proposes severe regu- 
lations against the poets, miinstrels, and genealo- 
gists of the country : and Bacon's genius stooped 

' Emce's Travels, vol. 3, c. 5. 



218 Concerning Soil. - 

so low, as to recommend Cecil to reform (should 
we not read destroy?) the poets and heralds of Ire- 
land, who enchant their countrymen in their savage 
manners (meaning their love of liberty and their 
laws). 

The policy of the English government proceeded 
afterward much farther than to destroy their min- 
strels and musicians. Sir Wm. Cole mentions, that 
he famished seven thousand of the vulgar sort of 
Irish. Sir Wm. Petty, no favourer of the Irish, 
says, that from 1641 to 1552 five hundred thousand 
Irish were destroyed ; and that the soldiers of 
Cromwell, and his puritanical adherents, seized the 
confiscated estates of the people, whom they repre- 
sented as the most barbarous of mankind, and not 
fit to be trusted either with property or power. 
After these there passed into this distracted land a 
nameless crew of Anabaptists, Muggletonians, Bro wn- 
ists, Millennians, Socinians, and the like, who also 
received large grants of forfeited property. These, 
though they had just escaped persecution themselves, 
were scarcely seated in their new acquisitions, before 
they became the most intolerant of men. — That 
disposition, which should have been allayed, was 
exasperated and strengthened by ministers ; for they 
knew, though they had not, nor have any merit for 
such conduct, as to divide and govern is the art by 
which a handful of stupid Turks rule Algiers and 



Concerning; Soil. 219 



-Q 



It's dependencies, that the tyranny of England over 
Ireland was only to be supported by fomenting and 
balancing the factions of it's people. They feared, 
that the regular importation of "English chancellors 
and English archbishops and bishops into Ireland, 
and of other English officers to fill the highest and 
the lowest departments in the state, would not be 
sufficient, to keep up the English faction in Ireland 
against it's band of patriots. They resorted to 
other expedients — to superstition and persecution : 
thus they contrived to change the jealousy between 
natives and foreigners into that of fanatics and sec- 
taries. This sanctified device they knew, for it is 
infallible, would cause enmities in this island viru- 
lent and everlasting. The scenes of the drama 
have hitherto answered beyond imagination the de- 
sign of the plotters ; but we have not yet reached 
the catastrophe. 

Even with these irresistible assistants the English 
government was not satisfied. In the reign of Anne 
it avowed and executed it's intentions in the most 
flagrant manner. It established the most complete 
code of persecution, that ingenious bigotry ever in- 
vented. Schools for the Roman catholics were pro- 
hibited, and a catholic educated abroad incurred 
the greatest disabilities. A Roman catholic could 
not inherit, acquire, or bequeath. To this were 
added the practices of the Inquisition ; for a person. 



220 Concerning Soil 



& 



on refusing to answer where and when he heard 
mass, might be fined and imprisoned for a year. 
The laws of marriage and the bonds of nature and 
of love might be dissipated, and the children of 
parents, if of a protestant and a papist, who had 
cohabited twenty years, were liable to be branded 
Vv^ith bastardy. "What," concludes lord Macartney, 
*^ you do not allow them to be educated at home or 
abroad ; no man shall go to lecture, who does not 
go to church ; a papist shall not be a divine, a 
physician, a lawyer, a soldier, he shall be nothing 
but a papist ; if he become a trader, or a mechanic, 
he shall not enjoy the rights of a citizen ; if a 
farmer, he shall not improve his possessions, being 
discouraged by his tenure ; and yet we complain of 
the dulness and the laziness of the people \" To this 
effect, and sometimes in the words which I have 
used, speaks lord Macartney, a writer not chagrined 
by disappointment, not exasperated by existing cir- 
cumstances ; no Jacobin, but a fortunate courtier 
and of the most devoted kind ; so proved in courtly 
obedience, that Bute thought him worthy of his 
daughter. 

Were this exposition of the true state of Ireland 
a digression, the insults, the injuries, the outrages, 
the sufferings of so numerous and so interesting a 

'Lord Macartney's Works, p. 123. 



Concerning SoiL 221 

portion of human nature as the natives of Ireland^ 
might plead my excuse : but it exactly conforms to 
my subject, which investigates National Govern- 
ment, and to the particular topic in debate, which 
treats of soil, as it's diverse qualities operate on the 
laws and temper of nations. The Irish are not 
heedless and lazy, supposing the slander true to it's 
extent, because they are placed on a beneficent 
land, but because they are subjected to oppressive 
rulers. Impute not the errours of the Irish, if they 
err, to the goodness of God's dispensation, bur to 
the badness of man's government, which has made 
Ireland a blank among nations, and it's people 
strangers in their native land. Were the people as 
negligent, and as indolent, as they are represented 
to be, arraign the true cause of their misfortunes — 
the English government ; which by every artifice 
and violence, aided by dom.estic treachery, has dared 
successfully to domineer over a better country, a 
braver', more generous, and perhaps by nature a 
more intelligent people, than it's own. Such a 

^ " By the forty-nine officers' account, the British army be- 
fore l64g must have been about 40000 ; upon whom the said 
8000 nocent Irish so prevailed, as that the peace ended in the ar- 
ticles of 1 648. By which the Irish were made at least equal 
parmers with his majesty in the government of Ireland." Sir 
Wm. Petty's Polit. Anatomy, p. 24, Let this stand for an 
example. 



222 Concerning Soil. 

political state of affairs is as likely to account for the 
poverty and distress of Ireland, as that her fields 
are green, or that her peasantry eat potatoes. If 
you deduct potatoes from the subsistence of the 
Irish by the same gradual process that they were 
adopted by them, you will diminish their numbers, 
and the remaining inhabitants in consequence will 
not be better but worse fed, worse clothed, and 
more wretched in every respect. The fertility 
of Ireland renders it in spite of aii opposition popu- 
lous, and equal not only to sustain it's own people, 
but to pay rents unknown to England, and rents to 
absentees from which there is no return. It also 
affords a large export of provision of various kinds. 
If such be the prerogatives of this island and people 
under so mischievous and selfish a government, 
what would be their situation as to themselves and 
to the world, if they enjoyed liberal laws, and an 
enlightened administration ! 

I therefore conclude, that the objections made to 
a good climate, a commodious situation, and a fer- 
tile soil, are unimportant ; and that the preference 
of climates, situations, and soils differently circum- 
stanced, are contrary to philosophy and common 
sense. That steril, or mountainous, or swampy, or 
arid, or intemperate country, may have peculiar 
advantages, I do not deny ; and these should gratify 
a reflecting mind, which observes, that Providence 



Concerning the Position of Nations, 223 

IS manifest in all. But this observation should by 
no means induce a theorist or a legislator to prefer 
countries so circumstanced. To choose a situation 
because it is repulsive to others^ would be the act 
of a fanatic or a poltroon ; of one who chose mi- 
sery for mortification's sake, or of one who feared 
to defend a better choice. It is our duty to make 
the best of what is bad ; but it is no less our duty 
to choose the best, when we lawfully may, and to 
make the be^t of it. I therefore conclude with 
what would seem to be a self-evident proposition, 
if it were not so perversely contested ; that a tem- 
perate climate, a commodious situation, and a pro- 
ductive soil, are to be preferred to their contraries. 

CONCERNING THE POSITION OF NATIONS* 

Positions are various. Some are mediterranean, as 
Hungary, as Swisserland, as Arcadia : and perhaps 
it is not undeserving observation, that the ancient 
Arcadians^, as the modern Swiss, hired out their 
military services to surrounding nations. That both 
should provide mercenary troops to fight battles in 
which they had no imaginary or pretended interest 
is accidental : but their military disposition had 

* PausaniaSj lib. 8, c. 1 . They also agreed in being a moral 
people. Polybius, lib. 4, c. 5, speaks most favourably of the 
virtues of the Arcadians. 



224? Concerning the Position of Nations. 

more than a casual coincidence. An inland position 
induces a brave people to assume a warlike charac- 
ter, as they are in some measure besieged by their 
neighbours. This is of itself sufficient to render 
it ineligible. Besides, it's inhabitants are at the 
mercy of their neighbours for the little foreign com- 
merce they may enjoy ; nor can they transgress their 
boundaries for information, curiosity, or amuse- 
ment, without their permission. 1 may here re- 
quest, that niy animadversions be taken generally. 
Extraordinary circumstances may occur, which may 
occasion some exceptions to the universality of my 
remarks. I have spoken of the unprofitable posi- 
tion of inland nations for foreign commerce. The 
same would consequently apply to inland cities : yet 
some may have such unexpected opportunities, that 
those most remote from maritime or inland naviga- 
tion may become most populous^ and most opulent ; 
witness Tobolski, the capital city of Siberia, which 
in 1783 contained two hundred and fifty-seven 
thousand inhabitants^, and enjoyed an extensive com- 
merce, in consequence of the caravans from Russia 
and China making it a common mart for exchanging 

'The population is thus particularized: 1803 merchants,^ 
\25Al citizens^, 23l6 paysans des seigneurs, 213371 paysans dc 
la commune, 26 US non capijlables. Pallas, Voyages &c. 
t. 3, >. 492. 



Concerning the Position of Nations. 225 

the productions of those empires. Witness also 
Palmyra, which Volney* not unaptly calls an island 
separated from the habitable world by a sea of bar- 
ren sand. This city, by becoming an entrepot for 
Indian goods, which by the Persian gulf reached 
Asia Minor and Phoenicia to be afterwards dispersed 
over the European world, advanced to such opu- 
lence and celebrity, that the ruins of it's magnifi- 
cence at this day are an object of deserved admira^ 
tion. I introduce this caution and these examples, 
to apprise the reader on what terms I wish to be 
understood. 

A country having a portion of it's territory 
washed by the sea, or lying on some vast navigable 
river, is much preferable to a midland position. 
One of the most remarkable of this kind is Egypt. 
Isocrates says, that by the navigation of the Nile ^ 

* Voyage en Syrle, t. 2, p. l66'. 

^AiarTjv TTora/xov hycaiMv otxso'iv. Busiris Laus, p. 355, 
Diodoms, though he does not make the river a surrounding 
fortihcalion to Egypt, says it is defended to the east by the 
river. Lib. 1, He also says, that (he crocodiles, no less than 
the river^ protect the country frpm the robbers of Libya and 
Arabia. This ib impossible, for Libya and Arabia lie in oppo- 
site directions, i hey might stop the Libyan robbers from pil- 
lacking th(jse who lived on the east side of the Nile, and ihe 
Arabian robbers from committing similar depredations on the 
Egyptians of the western bank ot the Nile, As to their auj;- 

VOLe I, Q 



226 Conteming the Position of Nations. 

it enjoys the advantage of an island, and that it is 
surrounded by an impregnable wall : which is also 
true, but not according to his explanation, for he 
considers, that this river is both the cause of it's 
navigation, and it's impregnable defence. This 
^eems to me a curious mistake. It is not impro- 
bable but the errour is derived from those, to whom 
Isocrates is obliged for the remark, and which was 
^probably received from the Egyptians in their own 
eulogy of themselves. Isocrates esteems the river 
as the impregnable, wall : but it is not the river, k 
is the sandy desert, called Barbara, which deserves 
this character. I am led to this supposition not 
only from the absurdity of making a river which 
runs through the middle of a country a surround- 
ing fortification to that country, but by other con- 
siderations. Bahr in Arabic signifies a lake, or 
river, says Horneman'^- I should conceive, that it 
meant any expanse, such particularly as a sandy 
desert ; and Horneman ^ calls this desert, which 
bounds Egypt, and which extends from west to east 
one hundred and fifty German or about seven hun- 
dred and fifty English miles, a sea without water ^ ; 

iliaries, the crocodiles, they did not think much of them, how* 
ever, for the ichneumon was adored because it destroyed theiy 

' Travels in Africa, p. l66, *Ibid. p. 138. 

^ Ibid. p. 10, 



Concerning the Position of Nations, 227 

using a figurative expression nearly similar to that, 
which I suppose the Egyptians employed for that 
immense desert, impregnable truly, and which the 
Greeks, by mistaking the latitude of the term, 
shifted from the vast surrounding impassable tract 
of sand to the river Nile. I may ihcidentally re- 
mark, that the term barbarian perhaps comes to us 
from the Egyptians' ; and that the desert so denomi- 
nated originally suggested this appellation, 

Egypt is extremely well situate for cbmmerce,^ 
The Nile runs through the centre of the country^^ 
and it enjoys a considerable seacoast. It is sin- 
gularly fortified by nature on one side, as I have 
mentioned, by the desert; on the other by lofty 
mountains : indeed it is so peculiarly unassailable, 
that Wilford * derives the word Egypt from agupta, 
that is, guarded on all sides. This country is also 
eminently productive. 
* 

* I do not recollect to have seen or heard this remark, though 
it seems obvious. Beside the reasons in the text, let me ob- 
serve, that Wilford says, that barbaric in Egypt was applied to 
those who did not speak the Egyptian language. Asiatic Be- 
searches, vol. 3, p. 334. This is Ovid's explanation of barbaric. 

Barbarus hie ego sum, quia non intelllgor uUi : 
Et rident stolidi verba Latina Getas. 
On the connexiou between the Greeks and Egyptians it is 
unnecessary to dwell, or on that between the Greeks and 
Romans. 

* Asiatic Researches, vol. 3, p. 335. 

Q 2 



^28 Concerning the Position oj Nations, 

It has some defects. I know not whether we 
should attribute it's numerous physicians in ancient 
times to refinement or to the sickliness of it's 
people. " Here," says Herodotus \ " not as in other 
countries, where one physician prescribes for many 
diseases, each applies to a particular disorder." That 
it was not however eminently unhealthy we may 
infer by the silence of Herodotus, who would pro- 
bably have mentioned this among the peculiarities 
of the country. That the natives at present are 
subject to ailments in their eyes, there can be no 
doubt, though the excess of this complaint has been 
attributed by some persons rather to the customs of 
the peaple, than to the unhealthiness of the land, 
Egypt is also deficient in compactness ; it wants a 
centre : it is a long valley, increasing gradually 
from Assuan, where it is only seven miles broad, 
till it meets the sea. 

. China is also a good position, if we can speak of 
the relative excellence of a world in itself. It is 
surrounded, says Barrow \ by the sea, by moun- 
tainous forests towards the south, and wide sandy 
deserts to the north. 

To pass from the mightiest rnonarchy to the most 

'Lib. 1, c. 84. He speaks, lib. 3, c. 129, of the celebrity 
of the Egyptian physicians. Diog. Laertius writes, that PJat® 
gald afer Homer, that all the Egyptians are physicians : p. IgO. 

» China, p. 276. 



Concerning the Position of Nations, 229 

celebrated republie, from China to Athens, we 
shall find some coincidence in the goodness of their 
position. Socrates says\ that Attica was^ washed 
by the sea, and defended by .difficult mountains^: 
Xenophon, that the soil was fertile^ It's defence 
by mountains must be taken with some allowance, 
and Xenophon has few to bear witness to it's fer* 
tility ; but we can without any limitation admit the 
truth of his remark, " that ail the Greeks either 
sail round or pass by Attica^" Attica was a fortu-^ 
nate position, but less so than the Peloponnesus, if 
this had belonged to a single nation. 

An island is preferable to all other positions*. 
The sea, which the savage finds an insuperable con- 
finement, is to the civilized man the means of easy 
and universal intercourse. An insulated nation is 
assailed with difficulty, and protected with ease. 
Should it be the policy to retaliate injuries, which 
disposition, from the state of the world, does not seem 
to be soon reformed, what Xenophon in his palje- 

^ TrpoKsitoci rr^^ x^P^^ V!^^^ ^p^ [.leyixka. Xenoph. Memor„ 
lib. 3, p. 771. 

*De Pioventibus, p. 920, Opera. ^Ibid. p. g21. 

"* An island is preferable to a cluster of islands ; as in the 
Philippines it is difficult to pass succours from one to the otherj 
and should the enemy have dominion of the sea, they are all 
at his mercy. 



2 so Conterning the Position of Nations, 

gyric on Athens^ imputes to that state Is much more 
applicable to an island than to a promontory like 
Attica. He says, that it's people can attack their 
enemies without being attacked ; and that, while 
they carry war into the territories of others, they 
can cultivate their own fields in liberty and peace. 
It is also to be observed, that a naval force cannot 
be raised and disciplined with the same facility as a 
land army. It is said indeed by Polybius, that the 
jlomans at once created a fleet, and formed sailors 
to man it. We also read about a wreck, which 
first taught them the structure of a ship : and the 
same historian relates, that the Romans were pre- 
pared for the sea service by being placed on benches, 
and using their oars on the shore as men ply them 
in the sea. This relation does not countenance the 
accustomed sagacity and reserve of that author^ or 
it gives us the 'most contemptible notion of the nau- 

* Opera Omnia, p. 697. Was it not Salamis, for Athens 
-N^s destroyed, and Attica overrun, which preserved the wreck 
of the Athenians, and which ultimately overthrew the Per- 
sians iiy sea and land ? 

*This account by Polybius of the Roman marine, lib. 1, 
c. 4, is one of the most injudicious relations in history, and 
formally contradicted by himself. Had he continued in this 
tone, he would have exceeded Megasthenes in the extrava- 
gance, and Philarchus in the contradiction of his relations. 
See his own acccuiit of Philarchus, lib. 2, c. 10. 



Concerning ike Position of Nations, 231 

deal skill of their adversaries, and of the ancient 
world, if men who only paddled on the sand could 
overcome the maritime strength of the Carthagini- 
ans, the most experienced sailors at that time known 
among men. In our days, a sailor to be expert 
must be educated from his infancy to the sea, and 
i>Dne but good sailors can successfully navigate and 
conduct in battle that vast and complicated machine 
a ship of war. 

The advantages of an island are eminent in other 
respects. Sailors, it's warriors, while training, fojt 
their apprenticeship . is frequently served in mer- 
chantmen, increase the industry and the riches of the 
state ; while, infantry or cavalry, whether drilling 
or disciplined, are oppressive consumers of the in- 
dustry of others. Another capital point is to be 
considered. Soldiers, who may be impotent against 
the enemy, are always dangerous to their fellow* 
citizens ; while sailors, though they should assist in 
subjecting the world to their countr}^, have never 
raised hands against the liberty of it's people. Not 
even the jealousy of the Venetian government ever 
questioned the loyalty of it's navy. 

Xenophon^ imagines, that the Athenians would 
not have been less powerful at sea, had they in- 
habited an island. They would rather have beea 

"Xenophon^ p. 6g7' 



232 Concerning the Position of Nations, 

omnipotent. The vigour of ^gina strengthens this 
opmion, which, though only twenty-one miles in 
circumference, and though it's poverty in natural 
productions was proverbial, disputed the prize of 
glory with the Athenians in their joint attack on the 
common enemy at the battle of Salamis. 

The strength and spirit of islanders to resist fo- 
reign enemies has been frequently observed. The 
Melians, who were islanders, preserved their coun- 
try free for seven hundred years ^: and these were 
exceeded by the Cretans in the extensive period of 
their liberty, which Aristotle^ imputes to their insu- 
lar position. 

I shall notice but another of it's prerogatives, for 
it is useless to enumerate them all. An island, by 
increasing the disposition to commerce, tends to 
preserve the liberty of it's people. Xenophon^ 
thougiht, that the position of Attica, which approxi- 
mated it to an island, caused it's naval power 5 and 
that this gave the people a predominance in the 
constitution. This was profoundly conceived : and 
I am absolutely persuaded, that to the insular position 
of Great Britain, and consequently to it's navy and 
commerce, the liberty, which it enjoyed after the 
various continental states of Europe had lost their 

» Thucydides, lib. 5, p. 409. * De Repub. lib. 2, c, 10. 
^De Repub. Athen. p, 69I, Opera. 



Physical Strength of Nations. 233 

fre'^dom, is to be referred. Nor is this distinction 
attrihuiable so much to it's difHcuIty of being in- 
vaded, or to the nature of it's military forces being 
rataer maritime than territorial ; though this is of 
great consideration, as to the spirit derived from it's 
commerce by creating a property distinct from land, 
and thus counterbalancing the entailed and unalien- 
able possessions of eldest sons by funds more free, 
and liberal in their acquisition and inheritance. I 
talk of what has been; for the national debt has 
counterworked this advantage; the vices of mo- 
narchy, it's love of war, it's prodigality, it's in- 
sidiousness, have eiFectually bound personal pro- 
perty, the fruits of commerce, in the same chains, 
in which conquest had already bound the land. 

NATIONS SHOULD POSSESS A CERTAIN PHYSICAL 
STRENGTH SUFFICIENT TO PRESERVE THEIR 
INDEPENDENCE. 

A nation should possess in itself such relative 
strength, as to insure it's own independence. . It is 
true, that, a wise administration of good laws will 
frequently give that consequence to a state, which 
natural advantages and an extensive population fail 
to produce. As Isocrates exemplifies in his contrar 
distinction of the Thessalians and Megareans' : the 

^DePace, p. 300- 



2'34f Physical Strength of Natims, 

former, from their political mismanagement, thotigli 
rich and powerful in themselves, though possessing 
three thousand cavalry and a numerous infantry, 
had their fortresses garrisoned by foreign troops ; 
while the Megareans, naturally so destitute, witlv« 
out mines either of gold or silver, without ports, 
without arable land, having few troops, made their 
own laws, executed them, and lived in peace, 
though encompassed by the Thebans, the Athe- 
nians, and the Peloponnesus. 

Most assuredly wise laws and a corresponding 
administration will multiply beyond the most san- 
guine hopes the natural prosperity of a state ; it will 
raise the least favoured above the most favoured, and 
iftfuse a spirit and a determination into the smallest, 
which the most extensive never felt. Yet still there 
is a limitation to the energies of man. The bravest 
individual must fall before a multitude, and a mi- 
nute state will be overrun by a boundless empire. 
What was St. Marino under the protection of the 
Roman see ? or Genoa allied .with the French mo- 
narchy ? or any of those elementary states — Geneva^ 
or Ragusa, which merely subsisted by the jealousy 
of surrounding nations, and which eventually be- 
came their prey, either wholly absorbed by the 
mightiest, or distributed among the mighty ? 



235 



OF CONFEDERACIES. 



Remedies have been proposed for individual 
weakness ; but a confederacy among the feeble is 
the only one, which affords any rational prospect 
of success. Such was that of the cantons of Swis- 
serland, of the Low Countries, and of the Seiks 
in Asia;, which Dow likens to the latter in Europe ^ 
A confederacy is an obvious preventive in such pe« 
rilous circumstances. " If," said the Corinthian * 
deputy to the Lacedasmonians, " we do not con- 
federate, we shall be singly and successively sub- 
dued :" and to a want of union in counsels and 
arms Tacitus ascribes the reduction of the Britons 
to the Roman empire. 

Yet confederacies seldom preserve the indepen- 
dence of states for any length of time, and their 
physical powers are always much less effectual than 
the same powers possessed by a single state. Sparta 
held only two parts of five of the Peloponnesus '« 
Yet the inhabitants of the greater share could sel- 
dom preserve themselves harmless without the as- 
sistance of some potent state out of the peninsula, 
and in the end Sparta triumphed over all opposition. 
Philip de Comines has expressed in a forcible man- 
ner his opinion concerning the relative weakness of 
a confederacy compared with a single power. He 

" Hindostan^ year 176^, « Thucydides, lib. 1, p. 8, ^ ii\^^ 



^36 Of Confederacies. 

says, (I fear I am not accurate in the quotas, but I 
am positive as to the design of the author,) that an 
army of ten thousand men under the direction of a 
single government is more likely to succeed, thati 
an army of thirty thousand formed of equal por- 
tions from five different states. They have different 
modes of fighting, and Saxe considers uniformity 
in this respect essential to success \ Each state im- 
putes every errour or accident solely to it's as- 
sociates, and recrimination constantly attends re- 
proof. Each presumes on it*s peculiar merits 
demands the most honourable station, and the in- 
dignity is resented by all the others. Each requires, 
that a general of their body shall lead the army ; 
and if they compromise this mutual presumption, 
as did the Athenians and Laced^eaionians, who 
agreed, that the general of either should each day 
alternately command the troops of both nations, 
the confidence of the army is impaired". The parts 

'Reveries, c. 12. 

*Xenophon, Hist. Gr^,c. lib. 7, p. 6l6. Had not Themi- 
stocles yielded the chief command to Eurybiades the Lacedae- 
monian, and also satisfied the Athenians on the pohcy of so 
doing, all would have been ruined. There was great confusion 
among the confederate Greeks on going to battle, by Anom* 
pharetus and his troops running counter to the design of Pau- 
sanias j and it was by mere good fortune, that, instead of a 
signalvictory, there had not been a total defeat. Plutarch, 
Aristides, 



Of Covfederacies. 237 

of a confederacy have different projects, different 
interests ; they are therefore apt on slight grounds 
to take exceptions to each other, and to entertain 
any insidious endeavours of the enemy to excite 
jealousy and suspicion among them. Whereas the 
forces and counsels of a single state have but one 
motive, one object, one purpose, and the advan- 
tages of each individual are identified with the gene- 
ral welfare. Nor are those ambiguous expressions 
of the adversary always false, or those withering 
innuendoes always imaginary, which so frequently 
defeat the best concerted projects of the most nu- 
merous confederacies. It is scarcely possible, that 
all the members of a confederacy can be so equal 
in power, and so equitable in it's use, that on the 
conclusion of their affairs each should honestly 
claim it's share only of the advantage, if they be 
fortunate ; or that each should magnanimously as- 
,sume it's share of the loss, if they be unsuccessful^ 
For it commonly happens, that, if unfortunate, the 
weak alone pays the whole forfeit ; if prosperous, 
the strong seize exclusively the whole advantage. 
The strongest may also aspire to the sovereignty of 
all the confederates ; accustomed to lead, it pre- 
sumes to command ; and the authority, w^hich it 
freely enjoyed during war and danger, it pro- 
tracts from time to time after tranquillity has been 
restored, till it's tyranny is manifest and declared* 



t!38 Of CoJifederacies. 

So acted the Athenians, who associate^ many Ore* 
cian slates with themselves to resist the Persians ; 
the enemy being over thro vvn^ they treated their feU 
low conquerors as tributaries ^ 

It is for these reasons, real, or apprehended, or 
feigned, that the most extensive and important con* 
federacies are so pitiful in their performance. What 
did the league, which some years ago embraced all 
Europe, effect against France ? Though overpower^ 
ed with debt, though in want of money, with a 
civil war in the north and south, she discomfited 
the universal forces of Europe banded against her. 
What did the league of Cambray ^ in which the 
emperor of Germany, the king of France, and the 
Pope conspired against Venice ? It is true this small 
state could not oppose them ; but they reaped no 
advantage from their success. They had scarcely 

'Thucydides, lib. 1, p. 14. The tribute increased from 
460 talents, which were the sum paid in the time of Aristides, 
till the administration of Pericles, when it amounted to 130Q 
talents. Their affairs of course declined. The confederacy^ 
held also at Athens, which preceded the battle of Leuctra, was 
conducted very differently. In this each city had equally one 
voice in the deliberations. Each governed it's own concerns, 
but Athens had the precedence. All lands unjustly possessed 
were returned to the proprietors, &c. Diod. Siculus, lib. 15. 

® Robertson's Hist, of Charles the Fifth, vol. 1, p. lOO. 
Thus, after the victory at Plataea, the Lacedaemonians and 
Athenians were on the eve of destroying each other, each 
claiming the sole right to raise the trophy. Plutarch, Aristides» 



Of Confederacies. 239 

conquered, before the confederates quarrelled among 
themselves about the spoils of their victim; by which 
means the Venetians obtamed an opportunity to re* 
trieve their losses. The same consequences follow- 
ed the confederacy of Europe against the Turks. 
They seldom accomplished any thing of moment ; 
and it always happened, that insubordination and 
jealousy rendered eventually fruitless whatever this 
confederacy of unexampled extent, of zeal and 
rancour unparalleled, for superstition was the pro- 
moter, of continuance most extraordinary, for it ex- 
tended to two centuries, laboured to effect. 

It is happy for mankind, that confederacies are 
feeble in offensive operations ; but unhappily their 
power of resistance when invaded is little more 
energetic. No doubt there are glorious exceptions 
;o this remark ; but, when they succeed, something 
more than the ordinary character of man must be 
displayed by the parties. Every thing was to be ex- 
pected from the federation of the Low Countries, 
when Holland, which paid fifty-eight per cent of 
all the taxes levied on the confederates, did not 
presume to have a greater influence directly in the 
government than the poorest and smallest state, and 
Guelderland, which paid only five per cent, had 
precedence of Holland. Much also was to be ex- 
pected from that confederacy against Lewis the 
Fourteenth, when in the congress of princes and 



240 Of Confederacies. 

Embassadors at the Hague preparatory to the grand 
ailHance, in January 1691 ', no question of prece- 
dency, no ceremony was canvass d or imagined, 
but all was conducted with confidence in each other, 
and with zeal for the general cause. 

Eiit what did the Achaean confederacy ever exe- 
cute deserving our admiration ^ ? It subsisted in an- 
cient times ; yet then the cities strivmg for mastery 
among themselves weakened each other, and soon 
became an easy prey to their comm.on enemies. 
Revived by Aratus, it consisted of a captain general 
elected annually but capable of being reelected, and 
of ten a.^si&tants, who met occasionally at different 
cities of the confederacy, Sicyon, Megalopolis, and 
so on, either according to conjunctures, or to the 
disposition of the chief« They were limited to four 
days session, and on the 5 th they published their 

• » Bplsham's Hist. vol. 1, p. 208. 

* xich^ia, says Po!ybius, was a republic from ancient times. 
Until I he reigns of Alexander and Philip^ it was composed of 
twelve cities. Then they were separated^ and abused by the 
Macedonian kings, In the 124th Olympiad, the cities began 
to reunite, and the ^geans, Bonrians, and Carynians, par- 
ticipated in the league. Many have attempted in times past to 
linite the people of Peloponnesus. This at present is perfectly 
established^ and the laws of the Achaeans, which are founded 
on liberty and eqaa- cy, pervade the whole union. This was 
first effectually pron:oted by Aratus, ii ^as completed by Phi^ 
lopcemen, and it was preserved by Lycortas, Lib. 2, c. 7. 



0} Cdnfed.cracies, 24:1 

decree. No city could be admitted into the con- 
federacy without the unanimous consent of all the 
parties. Yet^ though they were remarkable for the 
candour and rectitude of their conduct^ the admini- 
stration of Aratus was merely a succession of spi- 
rited but ineffectual efforts. . 

Of what national benefit was the Amphictyonic 
council, not improperly called the States General of 
Greece ? This confederacy at first consisted (for 
afterward it suffered great alterations) of two depu- 
ties from each city of the federation, who had two 
votes, without respect to the smallness or greatness 
of the place which they represented, ^schines ^ 
says, Laced^mon had not more deputies than Do- 
rium or Cytinium, nor Athens than Erythrsus or 
Pryenensis. The number of states, wkich had 
originally a right to participate in this convention, 
was twelve. This varied at different times. Some 
lost their privilege, as the Phoceans after the 
sacred war"^; and as the Lacedsemonians, who 
also lost theirs for assisting them.. Some were 
afterwards elected to it, as the Macedonians in the 
person of Philip^. Some redeemed their privilege, 
as the Phoceans by their zeal against Brennus^ 

* De Falsa Legat. p. 401. * Pausanias, lib. 10, c. 8. 

^ Ibid. Diodorus Siculus says, that the Phoceans had two 
votes, which were given to Philip after the sacred war. Lib. lO, 

* Demosth. de Pace, p. 62. 
VOL. I. R 



242 Of Confederacies, 

when he besieged Delphi ; and the Thessalians 
were restored to their lost consequence by the in- 
terest of Philip \ 

The deputies from the cities met ordinarily twice 
a year, at Delphi in spring, at Thermopylae in 
autumn. From the latter place the assembly was 
called TTuAa/a, and it's members Tri/Aa/opa/. They 
bad the superintendance of the public affairs of 
Greece^ and the decrees of the assembly passed by 
the consent of the deputies and their assessors*. 
From such a body so constituted we might expect 
eminent exploits. Such expectations however would 
be disappointed. Did this assembly tranquillize the 
jealousies among the different states of Greece ? 
Did it's intercession stop hostile nations from mu- 
tual pillage and mutual slaughter ? Did it ever 
enable the Grecians to resist with undivided forces 
the Persian arms ? No, it seems to have been form- 
ed merely to afflict the country. It is true, the 
Platsans having accused the Lacedaemonians before 
the amphictyons of havmg assumed singly to them- 
selves the honour of the victories of Platasa and 
Salamis by an inscription on a tripod dedicated to 
Apollo, the amphictyons^ fined the Laced azmoni- 

^ Demosth. The word c v/KocraT'TxcrBiv intimates, that they 
had possessed it. De FaUa Legatione, p. 342. 

* UvXccycpocn-icci roig avysho'.$. Demosth. de Corona, p. 49s.- 
' Demosth. adv\ Nesrarj, p. Q7d, 37'/, 



Of Confederacies, 243 

ans one thousand talents. This is the extent of 
their exploits ; for I am as yet to learn what good 
or great political event they advanced^ or what evil 
they retarded. It was a union which tended to 
distract the parties, a confederacy w^hich precipitated 
the ruin of all the Grecians. 

Nor is this extraordinary : for. beside the constitu- 
tional defects of a confederacy, a principal part of 
this assembly's business related to religion. Many 
of the deputies and participators of this council 
were devotees \ who came to consult the God ; and 
many were actually priests or bishops \ V/hat 
could be expected from such an alloy ? Precisely 
what did happen — a devotion of the clergy to their 
own paltry quiddits, in defiance of common sense, 
and in contempt of the public welfare, stamped ail 
their proceedings — such conduct has always charac- 
terized all transactions, where the priesthood has 
been permitted to meddle with the administration of 
the state. An extreme tax, which was imposed by 
the amphictyons on the people of Phocis, induced 
them to resist their authority. The Phoceans at- 
tacked their opponents, and in prosecuting their 
victory they seized Delphi\ This the amphictyons 

* iEschines adv. Ctesiphon. p. 446. 

* Thus, when the Athenians chose a deputation to Delphi^ 
there was one hieroranemon and three pylagorai. Ibid. 

^ PausaniaSj lib. 10, c. 2. The Piioceaa war is related by 
Diodortas Siculus, Hb. \Q, in which may be read the ori^m of 

R 2 



244 Of Confederacies. 

digniiied with the title of sacrilege, and thence 
arose the sacred war, which, gave the Thebans an 
opportunity of exciting a general detestation against 
those, whom they desired utterly to destroy '. It 
was this most calamitous event, which first gave 
Philip a footing in Greece ; for he, like all kings 
and conquerors, affected the most tender interest 
for all holy concerns. 

What was the other capital operation of the am- 
phictyons ? ^schines, who on a former occasion told 
Philip "% that the amphictyons were bouad by oath 
and a tremendous execration not to destroy any 
amphictyonic town, but on the contrary to perse- 
cute whoever should attempt such a violation, moves 
in the council of the amphictyons, that the Am- 
phisseans had polluted by cultivation a piece of 
land, said to be dedicated to the God. They in- 
stantly decree, that- on a certain day the bishops 
should assemble at Delphi to take this matter into 
their consideration. They meet and decree, that 
they should march against the impious Amphisseans; 
which resolulion cifForded great triumph to ^schines. 
And it well became him, who reproached Demo- 
sthenes with impiety % because when he was told of 
portents and prophecies^ which tended to advance 

the Delphic oracle, which for so many cerituries had such de- 
votion paid to it's responses. 

' ^Eschines de Falsa Legdt. p. 405. 

* He says so himself, p. 401. ^ Advers. Ctcsiph. p. AAQ, 



Of Confederacies, 245 

the schemes of Philip's ambition, he replied, ** The 
Pythian philippizes/' The mind of Demosthenes 
could not be tainted with the religion of his country, 
or deluded by the artifices and the agent of Philip : 
he read the heart of Philip, and he proclaimed his 
intentions. Indeed the designs of Philip were so 
flagrant, that ^schines and the am.phictyons (I know 
not whether to despise their stupidity or hate their 
perfidy), if they were not idiots, must have been 
traitors. 

Philip's conduct was not equivocal. He first be- 
gan by taking Serrius and Doriscus ^5 towns in 
Thrace, which was soon followed by the subjection 
of that country. Next the Thessalians* solicited 
his assistance against their tyrants ; and having ex- 
pelled these he became himself their tyrant. He 
next joined the Thebans, and seized for himself the 
lands and towns of Phocis, and with them Ther- 
mopyl32% by which he gained a free passage into 
Greece. Yet^ notwithstanding this manifest and 
successful ambidon of Philip, did iEschines excite 
war against the Amphisseans, because they culti- 
vated a spot of sacred, rather say execrated, land. 
Did he not know, that this was to turn Greece 
against Greece, and to divert the attention of the 
Greeks from their chief concerns to things un« 

* Philip, quarta, p. 97. 

' De Chersoneso, p. 81. Demosth. 

• Ibid. Philip. 2da, p. 64, 



246 Of iJie Size of States. 

important in themselves but vital in their conse- 
quences ? Demosthenes might well say contemp- 
tuously of those, who disputed about the privilege 
ol having deputies among the amphictyons, " You 
Uivolve yourselves in hostiiides about a phantom at 
Delphi^, when matters of sovereign importance 
should engage your attention." The amphictyons 
excited a civil war, which ended the freedom and 
preeminence of Greece, for something less than a 
phantom. Such w^ere the origin, progress, and ca- 
tastrophe of this confederacy, the most celebrated 
in the ancient world. 

On reviewing therefore the nature of confedera- 
cies^ the inferiority of their physical power in action 
when compared with that of a single state, the dif- 
ficulty with which they are preserved, the facility 
with which they are broken, for they subsist rather 
by external hate than internal love, and particularly 
on account of the dependence of the parties on 
each other for their mutual security, we may apply 
the saying of Pagondas% that the liberty of a na- 
tion is at last resolved into it's own ability to support 
itself. 

STATES SHOULD BE NEITHER SMALL NOR 
LARGE JN THE EXTREME. 

Without regarding the population and power of 

^ Ev AeA0Oi? a-yiia;. De Pace, p. 63. 
? Thucydides, lib. 4, p. 213. 



Of the Size of States. 247 

contiguous nations, a very small state is not to be 
desired. Rousseau ', I conjecture, was of a con- 
trary ppinion by his observation^ '* that all states, 
republics, and monarchies, prosper because they are 
small." That they are better regulated and more 
prosperous than those which are vastly extended, 
there is no doubt : but this does not make them 
preferable to those of moderate size. In most states 
factions divide the people, but in small states there is 
not room for more than two partievS, by which a 
neutral or doubtful body is wanting to counter- 
balance the desperation or triumph of either. In 
most states the phrensy from misrepresentation is 
general ; but in small states it becomes not only 

^ Gouvernement de Pologne, c. 5. CEuvres, t. 1, p. 2C)2. 
Plato has observed^ that a Ftate should regard in it's extent and 
population the states adjoining to it. The population of 
his imaginary commonwealth he fixes at 5040 families, or 
habitations. De Legib. lib. 5, p. 840. In his 7th Epistle 
his estimate for a similar purpose amounts :o 10050, p. 1285. 
These must have formed small states, even with the usual com- 
plement of slaves, &c. The smallness of states in Greece was 
very vexatious. It was on this account, that the people col- 
lected so much into towns. In thera there was some security 
against the perpetually wasting hostilities, and private depreda- 
tions, which afflicted that country. How miserable was Greece, 
when Plutarch says. It was easy for Aratus to prepare for the 
surprise of Sicyon, as all went armed ! He also mentions, that 
Aratus hired some troops from Xenophilus, who was captaia 
of a banditti. 



248 Of the Size of States. 

general in it's operation, but instantaneous in it's 
effect. The fury acts in them as Macbeth deter- 
mined to do : ''the very firstlings of my heart shall 
be the firstlings of my hand.*' Thus small states 
are most liable to intestine dissensions and their me- 
lancholy consequences. Indeed Aristotle's chapter 
on seditions and revolutions^ can only regard very 
circumscribed states, for in no other could they 
occur, I need dwell no longer on this point ; for 
the evils arising from very small states have been 
found so intolerable in m^any respects, that their 
people have been obhged for the security of do- 
mestic peace, and the ada^inistration of justice, to 
elect rulers and judges in foreign countries,: — a prac- 
tice frequently adopted in modern Italy, as we find 
related by Muratori ^ and Gibbon ^ 

A very large state, on the , contrary, is also at- 
tended with many evils. If a small state be suscep- 
tible of dangerous factions, a large state tends to 
tyranny. If in a small state resentment be quickly 
excited, and suddenly executed ; in a large one it 
is seldom felt, and more seldom effectually ex- 
pressed on the most urgent occasions. Extent of 
territory seems to weaken the patriotism of citizens, 
in which it appears miserably contrasted with small 

• De Repub. lib. 5, c. 4. * Dissect. 45^ t. 4, p. 64, 92, 

' Hist. c. 70, p. 5Q2. 



:A Census necessary, 249 

states ; in these the patriotic ardour of their people 
increases as the limits of their empire are circum- 
scribed. In this, as in all things generally con- 
sidered, moderation promises the most regulated 
prosperity. In some respects a state is as a human 
being, who, to enjoy health and vigour, must pos- 
sess certain proportions and a certain magnitude. 
They also agree in this, that neither man nor state 
in proportion to it's increased size increases in 
power ; which comparative failure is augti>ented by 
their enlargement, till every addition is absolute and 
aggravated weakness : and thus an enormous state 
suffers like those overgrown monsters among men, 
who become unfit, not only to enjoy life, but even 
to perform the common functions of nature. 

A CENSUS SHOULD 3E MADE PREPARATORY TO 
THE ESTABLISHMENT OF POLITICAL SOCIETY. 

Having spoken of the climate, situation, soil, 
position, and the relative and positive extent of na- 
tions, the next step to be considered is a census, or 
survey, which should ascertain the quantity of land, 
— what is improved, improvable, or barren ; the 
population, — noting the ages, conditions, numbers, 
and professions of the people 5 their property real 
and personal, of what nature, and how employed. 
These are the leading heads, which a political sur- 
vey should contain. That such is not made by all 



250 A Census yiecessanj. 

governments seems so extraordinary, that it may 
induce a question. Is it that they consider the people, 
as the oracle did the Megareans, not worth enume- 
ration ? This negligence has been attended with 
strange mistakes, yet I know none greater than that 
mentioned by Cotton \ In the reign of Edward 
the Third, the legislature proposed giving to the 
crown fifty thousand pounds, which they concluded 
would be produced by imposing twenty-two shil- 
lings on every parish : but on levying this sum from 
each parish, they found-, that, instead of fifty thou- 
sand parishes, as they had computed, England did 
not contain above a fifth of the number. In these 
countries there is no account to enable authors to 
speak confidently on any point relating to the detail 
of population or property; all is supposition. Thus 
Smith "^ says, Ireland contains more than two mil- 
lions of inhabitants : Barrow % that it contains 
three millions and a half; others, four, four and a 
half, and five millions. From my general condem- 
nation of governments for their negligence on this 
point I must except the emperor Joseph*, who had 
such an esdmate made of all his dominions. 

This neglect in modern times is most unaccount- 
able, as it seems to have been the practice of all 

^ P. 3. ^ Wealth of Nations, b. 5^ c. 3, p. 465. 

3 China, p. 578. 

* Townson's Travels in Hungary, p. 144. 



ui Census necessary. 25 i 

^^neient states^, of which we have any accurate re-^ 
iation. It was performed by the kings of Rome, 
by the consuls, and to preserve this calculation was 
the original and prime . cause of the institution of 
censors. The Helvetii,, so early at least as Csssar % 
had a census, in which all the men capable of bear- 
ing arms, and the old and the young of both sexes, 
and so forth, were inscribed. Even the Mahome^ 
tans ^ regulated the administration of Persia by an 
actual survey of the people^ their cattle, and the 
fruits of the earth. That the Chinese should have 
attended to these particulars v\re might expect from 
so precise and watchful a government. Du Halde^ 
mentions a very curious diviidon and subdivision of 
it's territory, it's population, and it's property pub- 
lic and private, so ancient tL'at it is attiibuted to 
Fohi. This bears an extraordinary coincidence with 
the institutions said to be invented by Alfred — for 
the governors of Britain have not been always so 
remiss and unthinking. It is well known, ihzt 
Alfred made such a survey. Domesday book, now 
existing, which was compiled in the reign of Wil- 
liam the First, is said to have been modelled on that 
venerable document. Domesday book is extremely 
comprehensive and minute : in it all lands of what- 

»De BeU. Gall. lib. 1. « Gibbon, c. 51, vol. .5, p. 235. 
.? Hist, of China, vol. 1, p, 277. 
2 



252 Some former Ophiions rscupitulated, 

ever nature are specified ; arable, pasture, meadow, 
woodland, what may be improved and what is irre- 
claimable ; their proprietors and tenures, the value 
of men's estates, and the description of their pro- 
perty. This was executed by commissioners sent 
into each county. They took information on oath, 
and with the assistance of juries they determined the 
truth of the accounts, w^hich they returned to go^ 
vernment. There has not since that period been 
any survey in these countries so conducted, and so 
ample^ as to deserve any political attention. The 
fourth of Edward the Firsts in 1276, has been com- 
pared to Domesday book, but it has no such pre- 
tensions \ No state should be destitute of such a 
survey, and it should be reviewed and . altered ac- 
cording to the vicissitude of human affairs at stated 
intervals, as was the census of the Romans at the 
expiration of every lustrum.. 

SOME FORMER OPINIONS RECAPITULATED. 

Before I can enter fully into the detail of my 
scheme for national government, I must continue 

' Barrington's Anc. Stat. p. 71. The Jews \vere often 
censed, as in Numbers, c. 26. But we find in the argnraent 
to c. 24, Second of Samuel, " David, tempted by Satan, 
fovceth Joab to number the people." Has this frightened our 
pious ministries, and most pious people ? 



Some former Opinions recapitulated, 253 

my preparaton^ observations. I would not be tedi- 
ous, but I would be understood. 

In a former part of this work I reprobated mo- 
narchy, aristocracy, and democracy single or com- 
pounded. I did then request, that my intentions 
and design might not be prejudged^ and prejudice 
and errour in the common acceptation of language 
are synonymous. Though I condemn these orders 
of government separate or mixed, I would by no 
means reject certain distinctions in arranging a con- 
stitution, which, while they mianifest an essential 
difference,, show also a striking agreement with 
those orders in their complicated formation. The 
constitution therefore which' I prefer must differ 
widely from the British, or any other of Gothic 
origin, that arose from conquest. 

The British constitution in it s purity^ though re- 
sard-^d by some as a miracle of human sacracity, 
does not differ, except to it's disadvantage, from 
the government of the wandering Arabs. '' Their 
political constitution," says Volney \ '^ is at once re^ 
publican, aristocratic, and despotic. It is republican, 
as the people have a presiding influence in all affairs, 
and as nothing happens without the consent of the 
majority ; it is aristocratical, as the families of the 
chaics have certain prerogatives ; and it is despotic, 

1 Voyage en Sjrie^ t. 1, p. 18/. 



254 Some former Opinions retapitiilated. 

as the principal chalc has indefinite powtr." Com- 
pare the boasted British constitiltion \rith this of 
the Arabian vagabonds, arid it faOs mfi:iiitely in the 
competition. In this the power of the pteople is de- 
cided and supreme : in the British it is but coordi- 
nate in name, and nothing in reality, for two or 
three hundred individuals return a majority to the 
house of commons. In this the power of the chaies 
is honorary ; in the British it is efficient, and forms 
one branch of the constituted authorides. In the 
executive there is a greater coincidence ; the power 
of the chief chaic is undefined^ and the king of Eng- 
land can do no wrong. What is the cause of this 
similarity ? why is the chaic in one, or the king m 
the other^ despotic ? Thus English lawyers ssiiiswer 
for their king. Blackstone ^ says it \rould be 9l great 
absurdity in any system of positive law, to <;leline 
a positive v/rong without a positive remedy. But 
I ask, why should not a wrong be defined wapng ? 
and for this wrong why should there not be a re- 
medy ? Hear Yorke's ansv/er in his Law of Forfei- 
ture^ : '' that providing any judicial remedy against 

^ Comment. Vol. 1, l65. Sir W. Petty, who was no lawyer, 
says, *' that the second impediment to the greatness of Enj',]and 
is the dltierent understanding of several material points, viz. of 
the king's prerogative, privileges of parliament, &c, P. i^^ith-' 
metic, p. 351. i 

* Jura Anglorum, p. 456, Dub, ed. ' 



Some former Opinions recapitulated, 255 

him (the king) would be erecting an imperium in 
imperio, inconsistent, and destructive of itself." 
That is, unless the chief magistrate, entitle him as 
you will, be independent of the laws, the government 
is dissolved. This is a rare discovery ; but it suits 
rather dogmatists and mystagogues than men who 
understand what they say, and mean to be under- 
stood by others. 

Though I prefer the Arabian constitution much 
above the British, I object to both. The lawless 
state of the executive magistrate is most objection- 
able. His duties should be prescribed, and the 
causes and consequences of their infraction ascertain- 
ed ; as was the case in Sparta, impossible and self- 
destructive as it may appear to be to the English law- 
yers. But in the English constitution not only the 
king but the two houses of parliament are equally 
uncontrolled ; for which our lawyers have, as for 
all things, a prompt reason. Biackstone says, 
" that the dignity and independence of the two 
houses are therefore in a great measure preserved 
by keeping their privileges indefinite,'' v/hich Plow- 
den quotes approvingly, -and which Yorke would 
confirm by his authority in the following w^ords : 
" Should the representatives of the commons, like 
that of Denmark, surrender the rights and liberties 
of the people into the hands of the king, and he 



256 Some former Opinions recapitidaied, 

accept the surrender, he, these the law will no! 
put, being incapable of distrusting those whom it 
has invested with supreme power."^' You who say 
so are wretched pohticians^ and miserable observers 
of human life. For the same reason that their 
power is supreme, and supreme is by no means ab- 
solute, it should be defined ; and because their 
power is supreme they should much rather be dis- 
trusted, than if it were subordinate. No man, no 
body of men, no not even the people in their col- 
lective capacity, should if possible be uncontrolled. 
The Athenians were ruled by a very different policy 
from this — the pride of the English — and perhaps 
the Grecians will not appear discredited by the com- 
parison. At Athens no magistrate, archon, or se- 
nator, could absent himself, or adopt a child, or 
make a testament, till he had passed his accounts ; 
in short, an acquittal from the treasury preceded his 
power to make, any transfer of property '. The 
areopagus, which was always in ofiice, was obliged 
to submit it's proceedings to Koyigui ~ : and even the 
people in some measure sat on themselves in judg- 
ment 5 they revoked their own acts^ and punished 
tiiose who had induced them to injure individualsy 
or to contradict the laws and constitution of the 

' ^schines adv, Ctesipb. p. 43 !» 
" Ibid. p. 430. 



Review of the Spartan Cdnsikuiion. 257 

state. If the king's power be unllniited, and if the 
power of two houses of parliament be indefinite, I 
should be glad to know how this statement differs 
from Paine's assertion, that the British have no 
constitution. 

THE BEST GENERAL DISPOSITION OF GOVERN- 
MENT STATED AND ELUCIDATED IN SOME 
MEASURE BY A REVIEW OF THE SPARTAN CON- 
STITUTION. 

The sort of government, which I admire, is that 
praised by Thucydides ^5 " in which the commons, 
the middle order, and the most expert, unite in ad- 
ministering the affairs of the commonwealth/' It is 
the same which Cicero adorns with his eloquence, 
*' m which the high, and low, and intermediate or- 
ders consent, like a harmony produced from various 
sounds ^" In the same spirit Aristotle prefers a 
constitution, which embraces the various orders of 
citizens. This philosopher frequently declares the 
same opinion, adding, that the cause of seditions 
and revolutions proceeds from the want of this 
happy composition', and that the more perfectly 
the orders of society are combined in directing the 

» Lib. 6, p. 426, et Scholia. 

^De Repub. lib. 2, t. 4, Fragment. This Cicero^ I imaginSp 
lias taken from Pythagoras. Diog. Laert. p. 8J 5. 

3 De Repub. lib. 4. c. 12 ; hb. 5, c. 7. . 
VOL. I. a 



258 Revieiu of tlie Spar'ah Constitution, 

administration the state is better established. To 
strengthen his observation he exemplifies Lacedas- 
mon '. To the sam.e purpose Plato ^ speaks : '* Nei- 
ther the commonwealth which approaches too near 
monarchy, nor that which affects a boisterous free- 
dom^ is to be preferred 5 but that which is equally 
removed from anarchy and despotism. Ye, O 
Cretans and Lacedaemonians, have avoided both 
these extremes. '^ An account of the Spartan con- 
stitution so frequently noticed will tend to elucidate 
this inquiry. 

It is generally imagined, that, if Lycurgus did 
not invent, he materially altered the constitution of 
his country. "Whence he derived his regulations is 
more disputable. Isocrates is even at variance with 
himself. In his praise of Busiris^ he says, that 
the Lacedaemonian constitution is derived from the 
Egyptian. This he grounds on a corresponding 
law of both countries, which commanded the war- 
like order to live and exercise together, and which 
prohibited them from using any other art or pro- 
fession. The Spartans, he says, adopted this from 
the Egyptians, with one difference, namely, that 
they attempted conquests, while the Egyptians were 

sivcci fujv TtoXifsicvv fi.sijAyu.BvrjV cix Kxi rr^y rocv 'Aanzcaiy.ovior,: 
ETTdiyBc-iv. De Repub. lib, 2^ c. 6. 

* De Repub. p. 7 U . * Opera, p. 35/. 



Review of the Spartan Constitution. 259 

satisfied to preserve themselves from oppression. 
But in his Panegyric^ on the x\thenians he asserts, 
that Lycurgus adopted the Spartan constitution from 
the Athenian republic^ which he calls a democracy 
tempered Vvith an aristocracy — that the magistracy 
at Sparta was chosen not by lot but sufFrage^ — that 
the senate was appointed wdth as much circumspec- 
tion as the areopagus w^as by the ancient Athenians, 
and that it possessed a corresponding authority. 
In this style of reasoning he might have proved it's 
descent from theJPersian monarchy ; as we are in- 
formed by Herodotus^, that it was customary in 
both countries for the king at his coronation to re- 
mit all debts due to his predecessor or the state ; 
and I make no doubt Isocrates would have described 
it's affinity to that monarchy, had his laudatory 
pen been employed on any topic connected with the 
glory of Persia. 

Isocrates not only contradicts himself, but in both 
his attempts to show the source of the Lacedssmo- 
nian laws he is unsupported by others. The com- 
mon persuasion is, that Lycurgus drew his regula- 
tions from Crete. Polybius ^ is however of a con- 
trary opinion, adding, that the Cretan code neither 
deserved praise, nor had the least conformity to the 

' P. 410. Plutarch says the same in Lycurgus. 
* Lib. 6, c. 59. =» lib. Q, c. S. 

S 2 



260 Review of the SparUin ConstitutiGn. 

Lacedemonian. Why we should adopt his opinion, 
and reject that commonly received, he does not 
prove; a circumstance not becoming a writer, who 
w-ould secure the conviction and improve the appre- 
hension of his readers. On the contrary, according 
to Herodotus ', the Lacedemonians affirmed, that 
Lycurgus brought his laws from Crete, while he 
was guardian of his nephew Leobotas, king of 
Sparta ; and that it was during his regency, that he 
made a fundamental change in their laws and con-^ 
stitution ; that he applied himself to military 
affairs, and appointed the enomelia^ iriacades et 
syssitia. It* is also the opinion of Plato % that 
the Cretan constitution served Lycurgus for a 
model \ as well as of Aristotle ^, the most inqui- 
sitive philosopher of all antiquity, and surely not 
too apt fondly to adopt the opinions of his prede- 
cessors. 

That Crete should have afforded Lycurgus a plan 
for his conduct does not appear im.probable. " The 
Cretans," says Nicolas Damascenus % " were the 
first of all the Greeks, who instituted laws :" and 
their legislator Minos was so celebrated, that he 
was reputed after his death to have distributed jus- 

^ Lib. 1, c. Qo. Aristotle saysj that It was after his guar- 
dianship of Cbarilaus. De Repub. lib. 2, c. JO. 

« De Repub, lib. S, p. 711. ' De Repub. lib, 2, c. 5, a 

* P. 508. So says Plato. Minos^ p. 5Q7. 



Review of the Spartan Constitution. 261. 

''dee in the mythological world of posthumous retri- 
bution. Both by report and history Crete and La- 
ced^mon held a liberal intercourse together. . In a 
composition amongj the orations published by Ste- 
phens ^ it is said, that the sons of Molus came h'oni 
Crete to Menelaus at Sparta, that he niight make a 
fair division of their inheritance between them : and 
we find, that, in the great battle between the Lace- 
demonians and Messenians, Cretan ' archers, who 
were then not less celebrated than the Bridsh after- 
ward, assisted the Lacedemonian arms. 

That there is no analogy between the two consti- 
tutions, as Polybius aiErms, is obviously erroneous.^ 
I would not say^ that, because Minos ^ pretended to 
have received his laws from Jupiter, and Lycurgus 
to have his ratified by Apollo, there was a coinci- 
dence between them, for imposinons of this kind 
were the comnnon attributes of m.ost legislators, 
who wished to give a false authority to their regu- 
lations. But I may observe, that the ephori an- 
swered to the cosmoi, ,with this difference, that the 
cosmoi were ten, the ephori five ; though the 
cosmoi were chosen from certain families, which 
Aristotle ^ reprehends, and the ephori from the com- 
munity. It is also remarkable, that the senate of 

^ Alcidiraas adv. Palam, p. 185. ^ Pausanias, lib. 4, c, 8. 

^ Nicolas Damascenus, p. 568. '' De Repub. lib. 2, c. 10. 



262 Review of the Spartan Constitution. 

each was twenty- eight in number ^ : but I should 
observe, that the election to the senate was popular* 
at Sparta, while the persons who formed the Cretan 
senate were chosen from those who had served the 
office of cosmoi^ It is also remarkable, that both 
had their public tables. It is true, however^ that the 
Carthagimans * had the same : and Plutarch ' also 
remarks, that these public tables were called andria 
by the Cretans, and phiditia by the Lacedaemonians ; 
but Aristotle^ says, that anciently (^apy^aicf) they 
were called andria by both ; and Dionysius of Ha- 
licarnassus ' says positively, that Lycurgus adopted 
them from the Cretans. It is also worthy observa- 
tion, that the two states were so extremely warlike 
in their construction, that Plato^ repeatedly censures' 
them for this coincident defect ; saying, that all the 
laws, both of the Cretans and Lacedaemonians, 
seem to have been written v/ith regard to war only ; 

' Pausanias^ lib. 3, c. 5. * De Repub. lib. A, c. g. 

» De Repub lib. 2, c. 10. * Ibid. ^ Lycurgus. 

'^ De Repub. lib. 2, c. 10. "^ Lib. 2, c. 23, Antiq. Rom. 

^ De Legib. lib. 1, p. 7/0, 7/2. I suppose, that the Cre- 
tan and Lacedaemonian governments are coupled a hundred 
times in Pkto's wriiings. Socrates, in the Minos of that au- 
thor, gives an additional reason for imputing the Lacedaemo- 
nian lavc^s to Crete :. namely, that the people of those countries 
alone of all Greeks and barbarians were sober, and averse from 
private debaucheries of drunkenness. Xvij.irojioc, p. 50g. 



Revieiv of the Spartan Constitution, 263 

in which censure Aristotle' pointedly concurs. I may 
also observe, that the pen(xci ^ of Crete resembled 
the helotes of Sparta: that the women in Crete % 
like the Spartan women, were accustomed to see 
the public games ; and that the Cretans were so un- 
educated *5 that the Spartans, who wanted the rudi- 
ments of hterature, could not be less imbued with 
learning. 

Though I have specified some coincidences, 
which from their peculiarity manifest a common 
origin, yet i doubt Vv'hether Crete alone furnished 
Lycurgus with his model for the laws and policy of 
Sparta. If we pay any attention to what history 
records concerning Lycurgus, we must look upon 
him as a considerable traveller. Plutarch says he 
passed from Crete to Ionia ', to learn the various in- 
stitutions of that country ; and it is not improbable 
but he extended his travels, in order to enlarge his 
information. Were I to express an opinion, which 
I cannot prove, and which at this time is rather 
curious than important, I should say, that he was 
not solely obliged to any one people, though he 
was principally indebted to the Cretans for his pol^- 

^ De Repub. lib. 7, c. 2. ^ Ibid. lib. 2, c. 10. 

^ Plutarch, Theseus. 

^ ypoi[j.(j,aT'j. ^3 (j.ovciv Ttaihvovrcci Kai Tavta, ^j^sTpicv^. Herqi- 
clides de Polit. p. 508. 
* Lycurgus. 



264 Revleiu of the Spartan Constitution. 

tical knowledge. In a former part of this work I 
have spoken against many of the Spartan laws, 
which betray great ignorance in him who framed 
them ; or great want of power, which obliged Ly- 
curgus it is said to sanction the hcentious m.anners 
of the refractory women^ ; or great rudeness in the 
people, if they were the silent growth of immemo- 
rial usage. But the constitutional part of the La- 
cedaemonian code I consider in many respects admi- 
rable. '^I was amazed," says Xenophcn '', "to find 
that Sparta, one of the least extensive states in 
Greece, should be the most populous and renowned; 
but when I considered it's constitution, I ceased to 
wonder." This constitution. Plato ^ calls polity, 
'TToXiTsicc^ w^hich he eminently prefers. The .same 
term is applied to it by Maximus Tyrius*, who 
classes it with the Cretan. So does Aristotle^ ; and 
this philosopher shows, in contradiction to some, 
■who called it a democracy, and to others, who termed 
it an oligarchy, that it was neither, but a mixed 
state. He pursues nearly the same mode in 

^ Aristot. de I\epub, lib, 2, c. 9, '^ De Repub. Lacon. 

s De Repub. lib. 8, p. 711. "* Dissert. 6, p. 78. 

' De Repub. lib. A, c. 9. In like manner Plato hesitates 
\vhat he should call the Lacedaemonian state. "' If," says he, 
**" we regard the ephori, it seems a tyranny : on another view it 
appears a democracy ; yet to deny, that rt is an aristocracy, is 
absurd ; and it is also a kingdom.'* De Legib. lib. 4, p. 82Q. 



Review of tlie Spartan Co72StituUGn, 265 

eiucidatijOg his own opinion, as Polybius had done^ 
though less justly, in displaying the blended and 
cooperative powers of government^ which formed 
the Roman state. Nor should we forget in the ge- 
neral praise of the constitution of this people, that 
according to the testimony of Isocrates \ Cicero % 
and Livy ^^ it subsisted without any material change 
for seven hundred years. 

The nature of the constitution i^ generally thus 
reported to us. It was originally directed by one 
ruler, called a kine,^ whose sin!2:le authority was di- 
vided between Procles and Eu/ystlieaes, and held 
until the time of Cleomenes in joint sovereignty by 
two of their descendants. Herodotus ^ tells a strange 
story, to account for this change in the government 

' De Pace. ^ Pro Flacco. 

^ Lib. 30, e, 30. Plutarch, in his Life oF Nuraa, says five 
hundred ; but in Lycurgus he says it continued superior to the 
rest of Greece for five hundred years. 

^ Lib. 6, c. 52. Plutarch, in his Life of Lysander, says, 
that the Heraclidas mixing with the Dorians on their coming 
into the Peloponnesus were a great and vigorous race^ ysvo^. 
All were not however privileged to bj kings, except those of 
two families, t' e EurytionicicK and Agids, p. 325. If this be 
^rue, the double executive is as old as the establishment of the 
Heraclidae in the Peloponnesus. The dolible executive might 
have arisen among (he Sparlans, as it did among the Romans, 
when Romulus and Remus were joint kings ; or as among the 
same people when Romulus and Tatius divided the sovereignty 
of the stale. 



^63 Revieiv cf ike Spartan Constitution, 

from a single to a divided sovereignty. It is suffi- 
cient to say, that Eurysthenes and Procles, the first 
joint kings, were twins. This double executive I 
consider as a blemish ; and Herodotus says, that 
the enmity of the two brothers appeared immedi- 
ately when they had reached manhood^ and that 
their children inherited their fathers' resentment. I 
must observe, that, though the two kings held a 
joint they did not possess a coordinate power, so 
that their jealousies were not so likely to traverse the 
operations of government, and agitate the state. 
It seems, that the king of the elder branch was pre- 
eminently the king : and if Gedoyn ', the French 
translator of Pausanias, be right, who says, that 
Ficinus Serranus, and the translator of Homxcr, 
have mistaken the w^ord cy^zcciccy the kings of the 
second branch, when Lycurgus legislated for Sparta, 
were elected every ninth year; therefore the king of 
the first branch Vv^as as much superiour to that of 
the second, as ?.n authority for life exceeds an" au- 
thority limited to the duration of a few years. 

The Spartan kings had many prerogatives. They 
were maintained at the public expense, and had a 
double portion of viands, both at the public tables 
and at private entertainments ; a preference not un- 
frequent among rude people. They were high- 

J Liv. 2. 



Review of the Spartan Constitution, 267 

priests, and appointed those who consulted the 
oracle. They named those who were to entertain 
foreign ambassadors. They had the most distin- 
guished place at the public games. When com- 
manding the armies of the commonwealth, their 
post was in the front, if advancing ; in the rear, if 
retreating ; at which time they had a chosen guard 
of one hundred men for the security of their per- 
sons. Herodotus ^ also says, that the king had a 
right to make war and peace, and that any obstruc- 
tion to the exercise of this royal prerogative sub- 
jected the opponent io execration. Xenophon^ con- 
tradicts this expressly, saying, that the ephori had 
the charge of both. I think, that they are equally 
wrong ; and I shall show the origin of Xenophon's 
mistake in attributing this to the ephori, which they 
enjoyed in common probably with both the senate 
and people. The kings were members of the 
senate. According to some^ tliey had each two 
votes in this assembly, which Thucydides ^ places 
among vulgar errours. It is supposed, that Hero- 

' Lib. 6, c. 55. Sydney, without alluding to Herodotu<5, 
says^ that, taking; Xenophon and Plutarch for our guides, the 
kings never had the right of war and peace. On Government, 
c. 2, s. 7, p. 8S. 

^ Ksivoif {£(popois) Kvpioi; sivoLi ciCT^yr,^ xcci TtoXsy.s. Kist. 
Graec. lib. 2, p. 49O. This may signify, that they were mi- 
nisters of peace and war. 

^Lib. 1, p. 15. 



^26S Review of the Spartan Consliiuiion, 

dotus affirms each king had two votes ; and Beloe ^5 
taking this for granted, observes, that '' the scho- 
liast reconciles the seeming difference by saying, 
that the Lacedemonian kings gave but one vote 
each, but each vote told for two." i by no means 
wdsh to dispute the scholiast's knovvdedge of Greek ; 
and I should suppose, that a translator ought 
to have a competent acquaintance with his author 
and his language, particularly in a second edition. 
Yet I ov^'n I see no reason for the ingenuity of either 
scholiast or translator, to reconcile Herodotus with 
Thucydides. The following seems to me a plain 
version of the w^ords of Herodotus ^' "The kings 
may partake of the consultations of the senators, 
who are- tv/enty-eight ; but if they absent them- 
selves, the senators who are most nearly connected 
with the kings assum.e their prerogative, and throv/ 
in two pebbles, and a third for themselves." He- 
rodotus is not speaking of one but of two kings, 
who should of course have tw^o votes. Thus I un- 
derstand the passage, though I do not pretend to 
affirm confidently, that I am right. From the king 
I proceed to the ephori. 

' Note in vol. 3, p. 320. 

^ Kai itoLpi^ziv ^ov/.£VOi^ roici ycpoici, sovg-i huov oioia-i fpirj- 

tcirr^v h Tcvv siivrcvy. Henry Staph, edit, p. 221. 



Revieiu of the Sparlan Consiitution, ^Bd 

Montague, in bis superficial essays on Ancient: 
Republics', considers the establishment of the ephori 
as a breach of the ancient constitution of the state ; 
and he refers generally for his authorities on this 
point to Plutarch and Aristotle. It is to be wished^i 
that on such occasions authors would quote the pas- 
sage, or enable the reader, if he be inquisitive or 
doubtful, to turn easily to it in the original. This 
Montague has not done, so that the authorities on 
which he relies are little more in his favour than 
hearsay evidence, lie also talks of a dispute be- 
tween Theopompus and his wife ; and he considers 
the abridged state of the royal authority by the in- 
stitution of the ephorate as the cause of this matrimo- 
nial bickering : but I can perceive no reason for this 
presumption, and if I mistake not the whole passage 
was taken boldly without acknowledgment from 
Cragius. I remember, that Aristotle, in the last 
chapter of the second book of his Republic, speaks 
at some length of different parts of the laws and 
constitution of Sparta ; yet I do not recollect his 
intimating, that the constitution was established 
130 years after Lycurgus, Or that with th'is change 
the aristocracy was converted into a democracy^ 
though Cragius* also attributes this assertion to 
him : bat I perfectly remember, that in the fourth 

^ P. 32; edit. 4. 2 De Rppub. Lacoo. p. 24. 



270 Review of the Spartan Constitution, 

book and nmth chapter of the same tract he says^ 
that the Spartan constitution is neither an oli- 
garchy, nor a democracy, but a polity ; and he ex. 
pressly considers the ephorate as a prime cause of 
it's excellent composition. 

Plutarch does say, that the ephori were created 
130 years after Lycurgus, in the reign of Theo- 
pompus ; and that Elatus was the first person in- 
vested with this dignity. lie also mentions the 
story of Theopompus and his wife, but at the same 
place he praises the wisdom of this institution ; and 
toward the end of his Life of Lycurgus he adds, 
that though it was instituted apparently to serve the 
people, it strengthened, the aristocracy. This latter 
part in praise of the ephorate is m.ore becoming his 
character than his relation of it's origin, or his ap- 
plause of the usurper Cleomenes, who destroyed 
it ^ Polybius calls Cleomenes, this reformer of 

' Polybins snys he overturned the foundations of the ancient 
government, lib. 4, c. 18. Beside the contradictions of Plu- 
tarch mentioned hi the text, let me add : he says in Agis, that 
Cleomenes and. Agis attempted to enlarge the privileges of the 
people. Yet does he not say, that, until the time of Cleo- 
menes the two kings had never been of the same family ? Cleo- 
menes. Does he not say, that Cleomenes admitted many 
strangers to the rights of citizenship, both which were hostile 
to the ancient constitution, and prove that the people did not 
second his innovations ? Plutarch says, that Philarchus pleads 
the cause of Cleom^enes : what does he less himself ? 



Revleiv cf the Spartan Constiliiiion* 27 i 

Plutarch, the destroyer of his country's constitution ; 
Livy ' deems him the first t^^rant of Greece ; and Pau- 
sanias affirms, that he imitated Pausanias% who endea- 
voured to become despotic, that he poisoned Eury- 
damas, an infant, his associate on the throne ; and 
that he deprived the senators of their authority, 
substituting in their place creatures of his own with 
a new but an empty title. And did he not, even ac- 
cording to Plutarch's account, proscribe the Spar- 
tan citizens, murder insidiously the ephori, abolish 
the office, and add their prerogatives to his own? 

With what semxblance of propriety should Plu- 
tarch's assertion overbalance the express testimony 
of many abler meii, v/ho lived centuries nearer the 
time of the Spartan legislator ? Herodotus^ says po- 
sitively, that Lycurgus instituted the ephori. So 
does Plato. " I principally admire in the constitu- 
tion of Lycurgus," says this philosopher ^ '^ the 
choice of two kings, which modified the kingly 
power j and still farther to qualify the haughtiness 

' Lib. 34, p. 26. * Lib. 2. ^ Lib. 1, c. 65. 

*De Legib. lib. 3, p. S13. In this passage Lycurgus is not 
verbally mentioned. Plato says^ that some God was the au- 
thor, as is his custom. But in his eighth epistle ne says ex- 
pressly, that the ephorate was instituted by Lycurgus, in order 
to prevent that tyranny, which ruined the neighbouring states, 
Argos and Messene, from afflicting Sparta ; and that the epho- 
rate was the cause of it's duration and glory, p. 1290. 



272 Review of the Spartan CGnsikutiori, 

of the nobility the appointment of twenty-eight se- 
nators, of equal power in many things with the 
king ; and the censorship of the ephori/' Xeno- 
phon ^ hkewise expressly says, that the ephori were 
established by Lycurgus. I perceive no reason for 
not attributing this magistracy to Lycurgus, if he 
be called the Spartan legislator j and particularly if 
it be considered', that he was obliged to Crete for 
his chief regulations. The Cretan constitution' had. 
cosmoi, who, Aristotle says^ corresponded to the 
ephori of Sparta : then why should not Lycurgus- 
have established the ephori ? Nor was their office 
peculiar to either Sparta or Crete. Mantinea had 
it's demiurgi, senate, magistrates, and theoroi %, 
which last signified precisely ephori. The Cartha- 
ginians had kings, a senate like that of Sparta, as- 
semblies of the people, and a council of one hun- 
dred and four corresponding to- the ephori\ Thence 
it appears, that a magistracy similar to the ephorate 
at Sparta was familiar to ancient states, and it seems 
to have been a sort of substitute with them for the 
modern practice of popular representation. 

^ De Lacon. Repub. p. 681, Opera. So did Satyrus, Diog. 
Laert. p. 4/. 

® Thucydides, lib. 5, p. S/Q. Szopoi, was the title of thos6 
sent by the Atheniaus with the offerings to Delphi and to 
Olympus. Plutarch/ Demetrius, 

^ Aristot. De Rcpub, lib. 2, c. 11. 



I 



Revieiu of the Spartan Constitution . 2^3 

Some have imagined, that the ephori held really 
the supreme power in Sparta. Cornelius Nepos *' 
among the ancients, and Linguet* among the mo- 
derns, have advanced this opinion. As censors 
they were supreme. They superintended the con- 
duct of the kings, and guarded the royal succes- 
sion^. They were the public accus'ers, in which 
capacity they arraigned Cleomenes* for bribery, 
because he failed in his attempt on Argds. The 
ephori questioned those who were suspected of 
treason aprainst the state ^ They had judicial cogni* 
zance of the faults of private and of public charac- 
ters. Thus they fined a king, who married an 
imperfect woman in opulent circumstances in pre- 
ference to one of a goodly presence who was poon 
Thus they also fined an individual, who had con- 
tracted to marry Lysander's daughter*' when he was 
alive, but withdrew his promise, on finding that 

* Themistocles, c. f. 

* Theorie des Loix Civiles, t. ), p. 110. 

* Plato, First Alcibiad. p. 441. They seem io have been 
Spies on the queen's conduct. They fined Archidaraas for raar- 
rying a little woman, saying, She will bring us pygmies, Theo- 
phrastus, quoted by Plutarch, in Agesilaus. They also, ap- 
pointed guardians for the king, as they did for Plistonax. Plu- 
tarch, Pericles. They decided between the kings in case of 
disagreement. P'lutarch, Agi^. 

* Herodotus, lib. 0, c. 82. ' Hist. Graec. lib. 3, p. 49^- 
« iEliaa, Hist. Var. lib. 6, c. 4, 

VOJL. I. T 



§74 'Revieiv of the Spartan Constitution. 

Lysander died in poverty. It is said also, that they 
fined a young man ^ for purchasing an estate at a 
low price, as this manifested an illiberal thirst of 
|ain. The ephori in their censorship were su- 
preme, but they were not absolute : as Aristotle * 
says, ** they did not act by their own unauthorized 
bpinion, but v/ere directed by laws and ordinances.** 
One reason why some have supposed, that the 
ephori were nearly despotic, arises from a mode of 
expression not unusual in many authors. Thus 
Xenophcn ^ says : The ephori decree, that the in- 
solence of the Eleans be repressed ; again, The 
ephori* decree war against the Acarnanians ; and 
again. The ephori* decree, that Agesilaus should 
war against the Mantinseans. In the same style 
Thucydides '^ says, that, the ephori being changed, 
who had made the peace, they who succeeded them 
in their office were disposed to contrary measures. 
This would induce a beHef, that the whole power 
was exercised by the ephori independent of kings^ 



'' JEYisin, Hist. Var.lib. 14, c. 14. 

* AioitBp QVK avtoyviviLOvoLi ^eXnov koivsiv, aXXa xccroc yptxiA--' 
iKXtxxoLi rois vofMOis. De Repub. lib. 6, e.g. Their power 
was so considerable, says Plutarch, that their hall was placed 
near the temple of Fear, to show, that their authority nearly- 
equalled that of the kings. Cleomenes. 

^ Hist. Graec. lib. 3. p. 49I. * Ibid. lib. 4, p. 530. 

^ Ibid. lib. 6, p. 603. «Lib. 5, p. 369. 



■Mevietv of the Spartan Constitution^ ^15 

senate, or people : as from the manner in whioh' 
Pausanias ' repeatedly speaks it would appear, that 
the ephori and king^ were the oiily constituted au* 
thorities in the state. But to draw such conclusions 
from these expressions would be evidently erron^oias : 
they spoke of the ephori as the chief promoters, 
not a& the sole authors of those measures, as a bill 
enacted by the English parliament is named by the 
person who advised and carried it ; as Grenville's 
act, &c. That the ephori had merely a communi- 
cated power is clearly ascertained by the following 
examples. On the question of war or peace with 
the Athenians, says Thucydides % Archidamas first 
spoke in f^wour of peace, or at least for procrasti- 
nating a declaration of war. Sthenelaidas, one of 
the ephori^ advised the contrary ; he delivered his 
-sentiments last, and, being ephorus, put the ques- 
tion to the assembly. First he desired it's members 
to declare audibly their opinion, which they did ; 
but their vociferation not ascertaining the majority, 
he required them to divide, and pass to different 
sides of the room. This I do not mention so much 
to prove as to elucidate my opinion, that they were 
not supreme, but coordinate in framing or autho- 
rizing the resolutions of the state. I shall how- 
ever mention other instances to the same eifectc 

•**Lib.4, c,4f, 12, «Lib, I, p. 57, 58. 

T 2 



276 Review of the Spartan Constitution. 

The senators (TrpscrSc/^) are joined by the same 
author ' in directing the Syracusans not to compound 
with the Athenians ; and Pausanias * says, that Pau- 
sanias was tried by the twenty-eight senators, the 
cphori, and the king of the other family ; that 
fourteen of the senators with Agis declared him 
guilty, but that he was absolved by the rest. If 
the names of the ephori being sometimes singly 
specified without senators, kings or people entitled 
them in the opinion of readers to be regarded as 
supreme, the ephorate would for the same reason 
be considered not as consisting of five persons but 
of a single individual ; for the peace between the 
Lacedsemonians and Athenians is ratified by the 
ephorus % who also gave the name to the year in 
Sparta, as the archon did at Athens. The ephorus * 
was the person annually chosen by the ephori to be 
their president during the year of their appointment 
to that distinction. 

The senate consisted of twenty-eight. This, 
Plutarch says, was the number of the council, 
which assisted Lycurgus in methodizing his laws. 
These, as well as the ephori, were elected by the 
people : it seems however, that the senators were 
to be sixty years old, while the ephoii had no hmi- 

» Thucydides, lib. 6, p. 475. * Lib. 3, c. 5. 

* Thucyd. lib. 5, p. 357. * Pausanias^ lib. 3, c.9. 



Review of the Spartan Constitution, 277 

tation of age, and were chosen in consequence of 
their merit ^ from all the people. 

This presents a very different outline from the 
British monarchy. Here is no senate appointed by 
the king, no men inheriting the right of their fa-, 
thers to legislate for the nation. Here is no king 
uncontrolled by law, and superior to justice. Th^ 
king was amenable to judgment ; and miraculous 
to tell, no imperium in imperio haunted the people's 
dreams, nor was the state dissolved when a bad 
king was arraigned for misconduct. The king did 
not form one branch of the legislature, he had 
at most a double vote in the senate : he had in short, 
as Pythagoras'" says, the most confined power of 
all kings whatever. If the Spartan kings were bad, 
they were tried and punished. Yet martyrdom did 
not sanctify the royal traitor's execution ; nor was 
posterity filled with pious horrour and c nsternation, 
because a head, which had disgraced a diadem, was 
severed from the body by the same axe, which at 
the instigation of that traitor's royal son afterward 
murdered Russel and Sydney. Their kings were 

' Aristotle, De Repub. lib. 2, c. g. 

* Erdant. de Regno. Hooker's Eccles. Polit. p. 39Q. It is 
related by Plutarch, in Lycurgus, that the kings were obliged 
to dine at the public tables j and that Agis, on returning from 
3 successful expedition against the Athenians, was refused the 
Jibeity pf dining with his wife by the polenoarchs. 



278 Re\)iew of the Spartan Constitution, 

f)unished ; yet, can our prejudices believe it ? the 
state continued to exist, nor did even convulsions 
or disturbance distract the people. Hear one in- 
stance how the people acted in their judicial capa- 
city, '' they tried Agis, he was convicted, and they 
decreed," says Thucydides ', " directly in anger 
against him, imposing a fine on him, and ordering 
his house to be rased.** Yet the people, who are 
always by courtiers and parasites represented in such 
^jTeadful colours, forbore the execution of their sen- 
tence, though the misconduct of Agis was exaspe- 
rating in the e^ctreme, for he disbanded the finest 
army, that had appeared during the Peloponnesian 
war, and which had every prospect of success^ had 
he acted with ordinary prudence. 

It is therefore very possible, that the king may 
be amenable to justice, yet the royal power con- 
tinue ; it is very possible, that the royal power may 
be extremely limited, yet remain secure. It was ii\ 
fact this limited sovereignty, which at Sparta made 
both kings and people confident in each other. 
*' The people/' says Xenophon% " never wished to 
displace the royal family, nor did the kings attempt te 

* Lib, 5, p. 383. Plistonax, the king, was fined, and^ 
being unable to pay the penalty, was obliged to withdraw, 
Plutarch, Pericles. They also deposed thek kings for mal^-? 
administration. Plutarch, SyUa, 

*DeAgesilaOj p. (551, 



% 



Review of the Spartan Constitution. 279 

possess more power than was first adjudged to them 
by the laws. The people were respected, the kings 
beloved." With the authority of simple magistrates 
they were far exalted beyond Asiatic despotism, and 
the deified rulers of imperial Rome ; their honour^ 
were heartfelt ; and in war such was the devotion * 
of the soldiery, that what Tacitus' says of the free 
Germans is not unapplicable to them ; " The chief^ 
fight for victory, their companions in arms for their 
chiefs." : 

Such was the mixed but liberal nature of ihp 
Spartan constitution. The king was the chief ma- 
gistrate, who voted with the senators, and executed 
the decree of the majority. The senators were ve- 
nerable for their years, they were elected by th^ 
people, and their ofEce continued for life. Th^ 
ephori were of mature age, their office was annual, 
and they also were elected by the people. Thus 
the power of the state, though variously modified, 
was wholly popular, beginning, ending, continuing, 

' Isocvates, Epist. 2da ad Philip, p. 6ll. 

* De Mor b. Germ. c. 14. Jn St. Palaye's Meni. de la 
Chevalerie, p. 20, are the following words: '* I have heard 
old captains say, that formerly, by an ancient rule, in the bat- 
tles the first and noblest sqnireg of the kings of Prance were 
accustomed to be always near them." 'lliis corr s{)c)nds with 
what is said of the German soldiers and their leader, and with 
the Spartans and theirs. To tight in the foremost rauks before 
the kings was reserved for those, who conc|uered in the OlyrapJQ 
games, Plutarch, Lyeurgus, 



^80 Origin and Progress of 

and reappearing with the people. This preserved 
the greatest equality among the people ; even, says 
Thucydides', between the rich and poor. To 
this popularity of it*s nature is to be ascribed it*s 
strength and permanency. " The people/' says 
Aristotle % " participated in the great imperial con- 
cerns of the state, and this accounts for it*s tran« 
quillity.and duration/- 

J have considered the Spartan state at this length, 
because I conceive, that the appointment and office 
of it's constituted authorities give a fair outline of 
what ought to be the constitution of a state, that 
endeavoured to unite security with freedom. It 
consisted of assemblies of the people/ and ephori, 
who were presidents of those assemblies, and who 
represented them when they were dissolved ; of a 
senate ; and of a chief magistrate. This bears the 
character of wisdom and simplicity, and seems to be 
dictated not only by common sense, but by the na- 
ture of society. Let us therefore have recourse tp 
principles, and trace society froni it's source. 

ORIGIN AND PROGRESS OF SOCIETY AND 

GOVERNMENT. 

My first position is, that man is social. This^ 
which might seem to be an axiom, has howevei" 

'Lib.l, p. 8. 

? 'H£n;;^a^ei yap 6 ^i^jao; ha ft i^Bfeyaiv rij; ^eyi(rfr^$ ^FX^* 
De Repuh. lib. 2, c. 9. 



Society and GoverjimcnU 281 

been controverted, and numerous theories have been 
founded on dilFerent principles. It is not perhaps 
inadmissible for the greater ease of investigating 
causes, to imagine certain situations, which have 
not had any existence. But, in general, speculators 
on this point have in a great measure talked of 
mankind as vvorldmakers have of matter ; the first 
supposed man to exist without society, the others 
fancied a chaos, which preceded the existing world. 

Dark ', waste, and wild, under the frown of night. 
Starless^ exposM, and ever threat'ning storms 
Of chaos blust'ring round. 

Nay some have formed society by chaotic principles^ 

By Tumult and Confusion, all embroird. 
And Discord with a thousap4 various mouths. 

For to a 'war of all against all some have ascribed 
the origin of society. Some on the contrary have 
thought, that it arose from a consideration of mu- 
tual advantage : others from a provident and cau- 
tionary motive, the apprehension of injury which 
combined the weak against the audacious. The last 
certainly increases society, and enlarges the sphere 
of it's communication, as is exemplified by the fol- 

' Milton's Paradise Lost. Diodorus Siculus, lib. 1 , sup- 
poses, that men associated frorn being frequently attacked by 
"WM beasts. 



2St Origin and Progress of 

lowing Instance from the savage state:— In Bar- 
bary, to hunt the lion, the whole district is sum- 
tnoned to appear \ Some have traced society, as 
Lucretius ^ to the good combining against the vi- 
cious. This may also extend the amity of people, 
as it occasioned the Hanseatic league. It may lil^- 
wise strengthen the bonds of friendship among 
those, who have been already united, as in the 
middle of the thirteenth century it associated many 
cities in the kingdoms of Arragon and Castile 
under the title of the Holy Brotherhood ^ These 
imposed taxes, and levied troops, to protect travel- 
lers, and pursue criminals, whom they convicted by 
their own judges. Thus in 1254, seventy cities in 
Germany * associated along the Rhine for the public 
peace : and for the same purpose leagues of mutual 
defence were originally formed in Scotland % when 
rapine and disorder harassed the land. These may 
account in some instances for the extension and in- 

' Shaw's Travels, p, 235. Plato supposes, that man formed 
communities from dread of wild beasts, ru>y hsKOL ^ciwv. De 
Legib. lib. 3, p. 806. 

* Non tamen omnimodis poterat concordia gigni, 
Sed bona magnaque pars servabat focdera casti. 

Lib 5, V. 1023 = 
' Robertson's Hist, of Charles the Fifth, vol. 1^ p. 134, 

* Putter's Germ. Constit. b. 3, c. 1. 

* Hobertsoa's Hist, of Scotland; b. Ij s, 5« 



Society and Government, 283 

tensity of social ccnnexions, but the origin of so- 
ciety is still to be explained. 

Many writers have also deduced various false 
arguments from a social compact, and among the 
latest, who have favoured this opinion, is Linguet', 
But is not to be bom, and to be reared, to be 
social? Man requires years to attain maturity, which 
alone would be a sufficient reason for his being 
jnore sociable than any other animal ; for he of all 
who breathe requires the longest education prepara- 
tory to his independence of his parents. Is it not 
then most repugnant to truth to say, that society 
arose from war, when love was the cause of man's 
being, and mutual affection the means by which he 
attained manhood ? Is it not vain to say, that dread 
of enemies, or that conscious weakness, drove v;i- 
grant men into society, and formed them into 
leagues offensive or defensive ; when to suppose the 
birth and nurture of children, and the common 
course of hfe for a few. generations, establishes by 
nature's means society and government ? And is it 
not trifling to talk of a social compact ? indeed it 
seems eminently absurd, for it presumes, that men 
for no reason contradicted their sentiments and 
habits, and straggled from each other to meet and 
reestablish by compact a societ)', which the strongest 
and tcnderest ties had already confirmed. 

^ Theorie des Loix Civiles^ c. 2. 



284 071 the Savage State. 

My second position is, that men were Intended to 
form societies of many families. This it might be 
supposed was undeniable, considering, that it is the 
nature of man to multiply, unless extraordinary 
accidents impede his increase ; and that it is also 
his nature for those of the same family to live in the 
same society, unless some untoward circumstances 
force them to separate. This is proved by in- 
numerable examples to be the actual state of society 
among many people. Thus the different tribes of 
the Iroquois maintain a union, " which they ex- 
press by saying, that they compose one cabin or 
family ^*' So the Calmucs are divided by the di- 
stinction of khatouns, meaning tribes, who eat from 
the same pot*. I conceive, I am also authorized to 
say, that men were intended to form numerous 
societies, because by this means man's mind is 
strengthened, and his faculties enlarged. As so- 
ciety makes man preeminent among other animals, 
a more extensive intercourse and emulation with his 
species exalts civilized man much higher above the 
savage, than society raised the savage above the 
brute. 

ON THE SAVAGE STATE. 

Yet there have been some, who, from love of 
paradox ; or from offended pride, because they were 

' Heriofs Travels, p. 275. • Pallas's Voyage, t. 2j p. ip;. 



On the Savage State. ^B3 

disregarded, while those whom they despised were 
advanced ; or from spleen at beholding the aberra- 
tions of scientific but weak men ; or from resent- 
ment at witnessing the sophisticated manners of the 
aristocracy ; have directly or indirectly favoured the 
savage state. Some have even advanced so much 
farther beyond this in their rage for freedom, that 
they exclude by their definition of independence all 
those, who receive assistance from others. This 
was nearly the creed of the cynics of ancient times ; 
and perhaps this or similar pretensions induced an 
observer of the same period to say, that he who 
wanted nothing, must be either a wild beast or a 
God '. Where is such independence to be found ? 
The man who lived in Norwood, as it has been 
improperly said, in a state of nature ; who said to 
the curious that came to see him, " Go from me, I 
have nothing to ask, nothing to sell, and nothing 
to give ;", was dependent on society. His power 
of understanding a question and returning an intel- 
ligible answer manifested his dependence. The 
truly independent man of those preposterous talkers 

* Antisthenes said, that a wise man sufficed to himselt 
Diog. Laert. p. 371. Wretehes in the text. These seem to 
me to have caused the belief of satyrs. One is mentioned as 
taken near Nymphaum, he was inarticulate, and disgusted 
Sylla* Plutarch. When the exposure of children was com- 
mon, such wretclies were not perhaps very uncommon. 



2E6 On the Savage Siatei 

tnmt be sought in the woods, and r€^ml>Ie" flie 
poor wretch mentioned by Itard, and such outcasts 
lost or rejected by the world. 

It has been said in favour of savage life, that no 
deformed children are seen in that state. This k 
ti-ue, but it does not happen because imperfect chil- 
dren are not born, but because such quickly perish, 
as the robust only can struggle with the perils and 
privations of this forlorn existence ; or because they 
are abandoned at the instant of their birth by the 
hopeless misery of their parents. There are w> 
iujperfect or deformed men in savage countries for 
the same reason that there are no twin brothers and 
sisters in Kampschatka. "If a mother,'* says du 
Halde ', " be delivered of twins, it is the custom to 
•smother one of them as soon as it is born, for to 
rear two, however healthy and vigorous, exceeds 
the means of the family." In the same strain of 
reasoning it might be affirmed, that the savage is 
preferable to the civilized state, and that it's people 
are always young, because in the former none are 
•found exhausted by age.' But it should be remem- 
bered, as the deformed infants are exposed to 
perish, so are the aged precipitated to the grave. 
Herodotus'" mentions, that the Massagetae put those 

» Da Halde, Hist, of China, vol. 4, p. 437- 
•*Lib. 1, c. 210. 



On the Savage State, 2S7 

of their countrymen to death, who became infirm 
by age. He says the same of the Pad^i ^ The 
same was the Sordoan law^ according to ^han*. 
AndDuHaide^ also mentions, that the Kampscha- 
dales carry their sick parents into the woods, where 
they die, for in the estimate of a savage there is no 
difference between infirmity and death. 

We are told of the virtues of savages, of their 
generosity for instance. But if it be customary to 
find the uncivilized man generous, is it not as cus* 
tomary to find the same man dishonest ? Witness, 
according to Selkirk ^ the conduct of the high- 
landers. Nor does their neglect of having their 
services requited proceed from a disdain of remem- 
bering benefits conferred. The Germans, says Ta- 
citus % delight in presents : they expect no return, 
but, he adds, neither do they feel them as an obli- 
gation. The gifts of such people are often the dis- 
posal of some superfluity, like the donations of the 
fool and prodigal njentioned by Horace ^ 

Their hospitality is also praised, and I have fre- 
quently read of the generosity and hospitality of 
the Arabs. But I have also read in authors no less 

^ Lib. 3, c. 99. « Eist. Var. lib. 4^ c. 1. 

3 Hist, of China, vol. 4, p. 437- 

* Appendix, p. 20. On Emigration, &c. 

* De Morib. Germ. c. 21. 

* Prodigus et stultus donat quae spemit et odit. 
2 



^8 On the Savage State. 

sagacious^ in Shaw^ for example; who m characten:!^' 
ing all the Arabs says, that they seldom forgo a 
favourable opportunity of robbing and murdering 
strangers or friends ; that it ' sometimes happens^ 
that those very people are overtaken and pillaged ia 
the morningj who were entertained the night before 
with the greatest hospitality ^ Nor are later travel- 
lers, who think when they write, more commen* 
datory. The Bedoweens, says Volney ', if at wa»^ 
pillage under the title of enemies j if at peace, they 
devour under the title of hosts. 

It is said, that savages enjoy unlimited liberty. 
To be savage and tyrannical are nearly synonymous. 
The females of all barbarians subsist in the lowest 
state of servitude. But let us be as negligent hi 
our inquiries concerning women as the savage is of 
his wife and daughters, and thus blot from our re- 
collection one half of the human species ; By what 
means and how qualified are savages to enjoy liberty 1 
Do their habits denote happiness P That savages are 
melancholy has been universally remarked. Plato * 
says, that laughter is not agreeable to the Thracians, 
or to any rude people : and in Letters on Iceland 

» Preface to Travels, p. 10. « P. 238. 

' Voyage en Syrie, t. 2, p. 256. Though I have spoken 
Aus of savage and uncivilized ^ife, there are many exceptioa£» 
as Abbe Thulle^ king of the Pelsw Islands. 

♦P. 128. 



On the Savage State, 289 

the same account is given of it's inhabitants. Vv^'ere 
they even capable of enjoying their liberty, and 
- were they as free as air, what have they to admini- 
ster to their propensities for enjoyment ? How can 
they enjoy life, when under their management the 
earth can scarcely support a few of them scattered 
over it's surface ? The Indians of the Powhatan 
confederacy were not more than one to a square 
mile, though Virginia is now twenty-five times \ 
and other countries two or three hundred times 
more populous, comparing the people with the ter- 
ritory which they inhabit. This is not peculiar to 
America. It is general. Thucydides^ represents the 
state of Hellas, after it had even advanced beyond 
the savage state, as thinly inhabited ; it's people, 
without trade or commerce, without stock or mo- 
ney, fluctuating from place to place as they could 
drive away others, or were driven away in their 
turn. 

What is the liberty of savage life ? To com.mit 
and to receive injuries ; to seize what has been ac- 
quired by the feeble, and to lose it to superiour 
force ; to inflict murder, and to be persecuted to 
destruction. Horace ^ has given a miserable picture 

' When Jefferson wrote his Notes on Virginia, he said one 
to twenty, p. 139. 

* Lib. 1, p. 2. ^ Sat. 3, lib. 1, v. 98. 

VOL. I. U 



290 On the Savage State. 

of what his brother poets, and phiiosophers like 
poets, have considered a state of primeval innocence 
and perfect happiness. Like Hcbbes he supposes, 
that the first men began to fight with their hands, 
then with clubs ; and perhaps this occasioned the 
Greek adage, " that v.'ar was the father of ail '.'* 
With similar disgust at the savage state it is said, 
that the Chinese at the commencement of their 
government differed little from brutes ' : they knew 
their mothers^ but were ignorant of their fathers ; 
and their sole impulse w^as hunger. To the- same 
effect speaks Komer, v/ho in the Cyclops has sha- 
dowed out savage life. 

It is said, that savages want few things. They 
want every thing % €ven the apprehension of what 
would be useful to them. Ulloa* has observed, that 
they have no perception of improvement. Savages 
live but to exist, and they exist but in their feelings ; 
gluttony " and waste are succeeded by hunger and 

• * U-oKsu^s o-.-rtxytx'j r.a.tro. Luclan^ Hist. Scrib. p. 34/, 
Opera Omnia. There are expressions in Plato^ which resem- 
ble Hobbes's doctrines : TToXEXio;^ £/va/ irxvrxs irccTi. De Le- 
gib. lib. 1, p, 770. 

- Du Halde, vol. 1, p. 270. 

' It is said of the Kamptschadales, that they want ambition 
and pride J but they also want any notion of fame and honour. 
Greaves, Hist, of Kamptschatka, p. 176. 

* B. 6, c. 6, p. 4J9. ^ Heriot's Travels, p. 22, 24. 



On the Savage State, 291 



'i> 



death ; without forecast, or retrospect, each day is 
to them a period of untried being. Savages want 
few things ! They are so destitute, that the Iroquois' 
are distinguished from all other Indians as construc- 
tors of cabins, for their usual habitations are caverns' 
prepared by nature, or banks excavated "^ by them- 
selves ; such is Robertson s ^ account of the 
Americans, and Shaw's* of the Kabyles. Read 
also the accounts of the Samoyedes, of the Lap- 
landers, who burrow in the earth, and who are far 
exceeded in ingenuity by the beavers in the con- 
struction of their subterraneous abode. Such are 
the prerogatives, virtues, and . enjoyments of mea 

* Heriot's Travels, p. 286. I may here answer an objection 
made to Heriot's Travels without meaning to praise them, that 
he is in some of his relations contradictory. He who speaks of 
savages must be so. Thus Ulloa says of the Indians, that in 
some respects they seemed stupid as beasts, in others possessing 
tlie most comprehensive judgment and ingenuity. B, 6. c, Q. 

* Domus antra fuerunt, 

Et densi fratices, et junctae cortice virgae. 

Ovid. Metam. lib. 1. 
^ Hist, of America, vol. 1, p. 1/3* 

* Travels, p. 45. He adds, that, when any vessel is in dan- 
ger of perishing on the coast, they run down to the shore, and 
pray for it's destruction. There are people still worse lodged 
than these. Heriot relates, p. 282, that many, who reside on 
the Oroonoque and Amazons rivers, dwell on platforms made 
of large branches in lofty trees, in order to avoid wild beasts, 
and tiie frequent inundations. 

U2 



292 The Origin and Progress of Societr) 

who have not attained civilization, but who rude 
and uncultivated pursue their instincts and their pas- 
sions. 

THE ORIGIN AND PROGRESS OF SOCIETY AND 
GOVERNMENT RESUMED. 

After what I have proved, and from the obvious 
course of events, it might seem unnecessary 'to add 
more, either to elucidate or strengthen my positions 
and argument. Yet as a writer cannot be too cir- 
cumspect and ample in employing all honest means 
of induction, example, analogy, and authority, to 
testify for him, I add, that my explanation of the 
origin and progress of society does not differ from 
Plato's'. It is true he does not speak of the begin- 
nings but rather of the recommencement of society, 
*' as after deluges, pestilences, and so forth," in 
which he is followed by Polybius ' : and indeed it 
seems, that Plato ^ reflects, as I have done, on those 
who founded society on laws and compacts. The 
theory of Aristotle * still more directly corresponds 
with mine, or rather mine coincides with his. He 
considers, that society first began with marriage, 

' De Legib. lib. 3, p. 804. Plato disbelieved, that the 
world was made in time. 
*Lib. 6, c. 1. 

De Legib. p. 806. 

* De Repub. lib. 1, c, 2. 



and Government resumed, 293 

and that thence it increased with the increasing 
houses of the vicinage, v/hich contained sons, and 
the sons of sons, and so on, I therefore infer, that 
society is from nature, as to be born and educated 
imphes society, and as the process of generation 
necessarily enlarges family connexions. To suppose 
the existence of a family also implies it's govern- 
ment. A parent for the preservation and benefit of 
his children has authority over them : they on the 
other hand owe to him, on account of his solicitude 
and superiour wisdom, deference and respect. Yet 
on these mutual duties of parent and child, on the 
tenderest interest and warmest gratitude of parental 
and filial endearment, have some founded monarchy 
in nations. A parent from his interest and experi- 
ence, and from his child's incapacity, is authorized to 
direct his offspring. This being the reason of a 
father ruling his children, it follows of course, 
when society consists of numerous children and 
many fathers, that nature and reason grant the pre- 
rogative of government to the fathers of all the 
families. Thus we find the principle, which Hume* 
says is specious but false, that the origin of all 
power is in the people, is approved and certain. If 
it did not originate with the people, from whom 
could it be derived ? But it seems clear to me, that 

\Historyof England, year 1043. 



294? I^Ionarchy not the original 

it not only originated with the people, but, as Puf- 
fendorf ^ says, " that a popular government was the 
most ancient :" for what is more probable, than 
that men should administer their common concerns 
by their common judgment ? 

MONARCHY NOT THE ORIGINAL GOVERNMENT 
OF NATIONS. 

Goguet* however is of a contrary opinion. His- 
tory, he says, informs us, that all the ancient states 
were monarchical. With still greater facility De 
Real ^ affirms, that the government of France was 
originally absolute, as it is at present. What does 
this writer on government say to the ordinance in 
SOS % " that every law shall be proposed to the 
people, and that, if they confirm it, they shall sign 
it ?" Their mode of assent is specified on this oc- 
casion. They announced three times, " We are 
satisfied ' :" and in the reign of Philip le Bel, when 
many of the French provinces obtained charters, it 
was expressly stipulated, that no money should be 
raised without the express consent of the three 
estates. 

^ Law of Nature and Nations, b. 6, c. 5, s. 4. 

* Origine des Loix, &c. note on liv. 1, p. 13. 

* Science de Gouvernement, t. 2, p. 31. 

* Capit. t. 1, p. 394. ' Ibid. p. Q27, year 822. 



Government of Nations, 29^ 

Suppose that In some Instances history has not 
reached higher than the kingly office : were those 
kings monarchs ? Dionysius of Ilalicarnassus "j 
whom Goguet has quoted to confirm his position^ 
says expressly, that they, were not (jjicyoyvouiMcysg) 
monarchs^ as at present : and in a subsequent book"^ 
he affirms, that the first kings of the Grecian states 
resembled in their prerogatives those of Laced^- 
mon. I have ah'eady shown the extreme limitation 
of the royal power at Sparta. Yet from the general 
manner in which Goguet delivers his opinion, ths 
reader v/ould be induced to suppose, that ancient 
kings enjoyed the lawless dominion of modern 
potentates ; which is contrary to truth. Dionysius 
of Halicarnassus adds, that for abusing their power 
they were expelled. 

To the same effect Thucydides' says, that the 
tyrants (rvpawihg) in Greece were considerably pos- 
terior to the siege of Troy ; and speaking of Attica 
he observes, that it's inhabitants Uved in towns, each 
of which had it's councils and magistrates. It ap- 
pears, that these towns were not subjected to a 
general government ; they had peculiar laws, and 
they prosecuted hostilities against each other. The 
same historian ^ adds : Theseus, a man of sagacity 



' Antiq. Rom. lib. 2, c. 12. ^ Ibid. lib. 5, c. 74, 

' Lib. 1, p. 10. ■» Lib. 2, p. no. 



296 Monarchy not the original 

and power, appointed a general assembly, and 
united them all into one community. This is con- 
firmed by Demosthenes ', who says, " In ancient 
times, the government was regal, and the king di- 
rected the sacrifices. After Theseus had collected 
the people together, and established the democracy, 
and after the state had become populous, the people 
still continued to elect a king to superintend religious 
affairs.'' The king was not monarch : his power 
was small and occasional. How could it be other- 
wise, when there Vv^as so little subordination or even 
connexion among -the people ? It appears from Plu- 
tarch \ that before Theseus there were many native 
kings in Attica, that is, chief men in the towns and 
districts ; which w^as not peculiar to this country. 
Thucydides^ says, that the Lyncests^ and Hel- 
miotse, and other inland nations, are Lacedaemo- 
nians ; and, though part of the Lacedemonian 
power, are truly separate kingdomis. How could a 
king in such irregular circumstances, in such con- 

^ Adv. Nesram, p. 873. 

* Theseus. Diodorus Siculus says, that there were many 
kings in Britain, lib. 5 : and in the same book, that each vil- 
lage in Sicily had it's particular king. So in Joshua, c. 5, v. 1, 
'' And it came to pass, when all the kings of the Amorites, 
and all the kings of the Canaanites^, &c." Kings meant chiefs^ 
as emperor did general. 

f Lib.2, p. l6S. 



Government of Nations. 297 

fined and confused situations, be despotic ? How 
could he enjoy authority over those, who had none 
over themselves ? Danger might induce them to 
submit for a time ; but the cause of their submission 
being ended, they of course must have relapsed into 
their former licentiousness. " Almost every tribe,'* 
says Heriot ^ "on the continent of North America 
has it's chief, whose authority is exercised only in 
conjunctures of emergencies^, and is generally so 
feeble, &c." If in this view it were said, that 
kings were the. ancient governors of states, I should 
not have refuted the assertion : and it will be con- 
stantly found, that, in those early periods of society, 
when kings are mentioned, their pov/er will appear 
to have been extremely limited. Tacitus^ says, that 
the kings of the ancient Germans directed more by 
their personal reputation and address, than by their 
authority to command. Such was their situation in 
Britain and Gaul ; and on the extinction of the 
Roman power in those countries even the title of 
king was unknown to them. Gaul, according to 
Turner \ was divided into one hundredand fifteen, 
and Britain into thirty, republics. 

If we regard states still farther advanced in civili- 
zadcn, we shall find, that kings had no pretensions 



* Travels, p. 549. * De Morib. Germ. c. 11. 

^ Kist. of the Anglo-Saxonsj p. 134^ ike. 



298 Monarchy not the original 

to the odious title of monarchs. To exemplify this 
from our own country. In England, after the 
Saxon- government, that is, after the German con- 
stitutions were transferred to Britain, the feudal law 
prevailed. This, according to Adam Smith \ " so 
far from extending, may be regarded as an attempt 
to moderate the authority of the great allodial 
lords," in favour of the king's power. Yet how 
extremely feeble was a feudal king 1 Hume "^ who 
has been justly considered a prerogative historian, 
WTites, " that no momentous affairs could be trans- 
acted without the consent and advice of the barons;" 
and that the king's prerogatives, his domains, and 
his retainers were insufficient, without his own per- 
sonal vigour and ability, to preserve his power ^ It 
was not the office, but the man : and thence it hap- 
pened, asVolney* says of the chiefs among the 
Druses, that, if the king v/ere able, he was su- 
preme ; if not, he was nothing. So little power 
had the king officially, that the sovereignty might 
be considered as divided among the barons. Wil- 
liam of Newbury * says, that there were in England 
as many kings, as there were lords of castles : and 

* Wealth of Nations, vol. 2, p, 12g. 

* Appendix 2, vol. 2, p. iog. ^ Ibid. p. 113. 

* Voyage en Syrie, t. 1, p. 455, 

^ ^lackstone's Comment, vol. 1, p. 2C"3. 



Government of Nations, 299 

Pinkerton, in his History of Scotland', " Thebaroa 
was in fact a king in his own jurisdiction, and the 
operation of the laws was directed by his loyalty or 
dissatisfaction." " The military force of the shire % 
and the greater part of it's civil jurisdiction, were 
in the hands of these potentates ; and the inferiour 
barons were attached to them by tenure, by clan, 
by interest, and by expectation.'' These remarks 
entirely defeat all notions, that monarchy was the 
ancient constitution of those countries, while they 
tend to exemplify my general argument. Lest 
however by pulling down one tyrant I might be 
supposed to set up many, I can easily clear myself 
and society of such suspicions. I do not believe, 
that in any country the power of the barons has 
been generally esteemed so predominant as in Scot- 
land : yet hear lord Selkirk ' on this point. " The- 
authority of the chief, hov^^ever great, was not of 
that absolute kind, which has sometimes been 
imagined ; and could not be maintained without un- 
remitted attention to all the arts of popularity. 
The meanest expected to be treated as a gentleman, 
and almost as an equal." Pallas* gives nearly a 
similar account of the chiefs of the Circassians ani 
the people. 

^ Vol. 1, p. 160. - Ibid. p. 162, 

* On Emigration; p, 21, "* Travels^ vol. 1, p. 403. 



300 Monarchy not the original 

Thus we find the falsehood of attributing monar- 
chy to the ancient government of the world by the 
same inquiry that discloses the impotence of kings 
in those nations, where the regal power happened 
to be established. In no apprehension of the term, 
general or precise, were ancient kings like existing 
monarchs. They were not like leviathans, that re- 
quire an ocean to float their vastness : they were 
not land monsters, that require a continent for their 
territory^ and millions of men to minister to their 
will. They w^ere magistrates in peace, leaders in 
war, and as limited in their influence as in the ex- 
tent of their territories. Even in the Friendly 
Islands \ where the government has been esteemed 
despotic, it appears, that the petty chiefs frequently 
traversed the measures of the sovereign, and ren- 
dered them nugatory. How is it possible, that in 
the rudiments of society and government one man 
could be monarch over many ? So long as a clan 
holds the character of a family, it's individuals may 
be supposed to reverence the most venerable among 
them, as Pallas'" speaks of the Kirguis : but v/hen- 

' Cook's Third Voyage, vol. 1, p. 406. 

^ Chaque branche, on airaar, a son chef} toute sa faraille 
lui obeot volontaireraent. Voyage, t. 2, p. 209. "^Vhat fol- 
lows, p. 300, elucidates a succeeding passage in the text. Le 
kahn a fort peu de pouvoir sur cette nation libre. 11 n'acquiert 
des parti-sans et des hommages, que par ses richesses et ses 



Government of Nations* SOI 

ever it transgresses this boundary, the cause and 
consequence cease. Monarchy in an extended po- 
pulation, or among a people not of the same kindred, 
can exist only by force. Can one man by his single 
strength bow many to his will ? Surely not. Ro- 
mulus raised a standing army, before he attempted 
the subjection of his country : and Pisistratus ' at- 
tained the sovereignty of Athens by nearly the same 
means. Without an armed force, how could one 
man assume a tyranny, or secure his power had he 
attained it ? A standing army is unknown in the 
early periods of society, and a body guard is so un-. 
common^ that Henry the Seventh "" was the first 
English king, who enjoyed this protection. It is 
true we read of kings in ancient times, as we do of 
bishops in the early church : but the temporal and 
spiritual potentates of modern days differ not less 
from their predecessors, than ministers from masters, 
and the disciple whom Jesus loved from him who 
betrayed his lord. 



presens. II ne juge point les disputes, elles sont portces zun, 
trois assemblees, qui se tiennent annuellement. E]les sontcom- 
posees des vieillards de la nation, et de chefs de chaque branclie, 
&:c. I should observe, that there are two Travels of Pallas, 
one in two volumes, which I refer to by their English titje, 
the other, consisting of many volumes, by their French. 

* Herodotus, hb. 1, c. 59. 
. * Blackstone's Comment, vol. 1, p. 40;'. 



S02 Of Patriarchal Government • 

Had Goguet sought principles in their source, as 
the title of his performance induces readers to be- 
lieve he did, he would not from the transient opi- 
nions of some Greek writers have considered mo- 
narchy as the oldest species of political government 
among men. He would have observed, that the first 
society was a man and a woman and their children : 
that the first government was that of a father 
in his own family : and as one father ruled one 
family, the fathers of many families ruled theirs ; 
for that, which authorized each to assume domestic 
government in his own private concerns, authorized 
all to assurrie political government in the concerns of 
the community. Tbis^ v/hich I have proved, I shall 
make still more absolute by examples of indubitable 
certainty, which I shall state with no other method 
than according to the quarters of the world in which 
we are informed they exist. 

OF PATRIARCHAL GOVERNMENT. 

First of Asia. It is reported, that in Formosa 
there is no king or chief governor, but that every 
village is a republic, ruling itself by twelve magi- 
strates, chosen every second year, whose chief 
qualification is to be fifty years of age. On an 
emergency each village meets, and declares it's opi- 
nion. This account by Ogilby ' does not materially 

* Japan^ p. 49, 



Of Patriarchal Government, SOS 

diiFer from Du Halde's '. In Carnicobar, says an 
author in the Asiatic Researches % there seems to 
subsist among it's inhabitants a perfect equality ; a 
few persons from their age have a little more respect 
paid to them, but there is no appearance of one 
having authority over another. 

The same is exem.pHfied in Africa. Barrow ' 
having asked the Bosjesman to see their captain, 
was answered, that there was no such person among 
them ; and that each man was master of his own 
family, and at full liberty to remain or depart from 
the society as he pleased. In this instance we have 
society in it's elements. Here is the patriarchal 
stock, on which political government is grafted. 
The patriarchal form of government appears in 
the existing manners of the Chinese, whose laws 
and administration entirely turn on the duty of chil- 
dren to their parents, and of parents to their chil- 
dren \ Nor is the government of China ^ more 
patriarchal in it's principles than that of the Philip- 
pine Islands ^ Thence also at Lacedsemon' a father 
mia:ht exercise a paternal power over the children 
of another citizen, and thence the youth of Lace- 

» Hist, of China, vol. 1, p. 179. ^ Vol. 2, p. 344. 

3 Travels, p. 2/4. ^ Da Halde, vol. 2, p. 32. 

^ Memoires des Mission. &c., t. 12, p. I95. 

^ Voyage de ia Harpe, t. 4, p. 340. 

I Xenophon de Repub. Lacon. p. 6S1, Opera. 



SO'i' Of Patriarchal Government, 

dsmon', of Egypt % of China % of ancient Rome*^ 
and of ancient Britain \ honoured the aged as their 
common parents : and no doubt from the same ex- 
treme reverence and affection the Tartessi ^ held it 
unlawful for the young to give evidence against the 
old. In the same spirit an African ^^ in addressing 
an aged person, prefixes the name ta^ or ma^ which 
means father or mother. Thence lauye % old sir, 
is a title of respect, with which the first officers of 
state in China may be addressed : hence sir, for 
sire, seigneur ^, and so on. But we have no oc- 
casion to exemplify this incidentally, actual instances 
of patriarchal governrnxcnt are numerous. I have al- 
ready quoted m.any, and I proceed to add to their 
number. In Lapland ^^ the elders carried patriarchal 
staffs, to signify their authority. In Dalecarlia " 

* Nic. Damascenus^ p, 5Q6. * Herodotus, lib. 2, c, 80. 
' » Du Halde, Hist. vol. 2, p. 129, p. 17;. 

* Valerius Maximus, lib. 2, p. 58. 

* Apud Stobaeum, sermo 3^, p. 118. 
® Nic. Damasc. p. 555. 

' Edwards's Hist, of the West Indies, b. 4, c. 3. 

* Barrow's China, p. I89. 

^ Jura dabat populo senior, finitaque certis 
Legibus est aetas, unde petatur honos. 

Ovid. Fasti, lib. 5, v. 65. 
*° I have seen some of them in the musaeum at Stockholm, 
They had certain characters engraved on them. It was con- 
jectured, that they formed a perpetual almanac. 
" Vertot, Revolution de Suede, an. 1520. 



Of patriarchal Government. SOS 

the generality of the villages were governed by the 
elders, who were judges and captains, though nei- 
ther more rich nor more powerful than their neigh- 
bours. The honour of commanding consisted 
merely in fighting at the head of the troops, for 
the supreme power was possessed by the many. 
These were the people, who in 1520 under Gus- 
tavus redeemed their country from the dominion of 
Denmark. The six tribes near Caucasus * do not 
submit to the government of princes, but are ruled 
by the elders of tribes. " Before the Russian con- 
quest the Kampschadales * lived in perfect freedom, 
having no chief, being subject to no law, paying 
no taxes; and the old men or those who were re- 
markable for their bravery held the principal au- 
thority in their villages^ though no one had any 
right to command, or inflict punishment." " The 
Lamur," we are informed by Pallas % " are an ho- 
nest and brave people : they maintain their indepen- 
dence, and are subject only to their elders, or 
priests, by whom their religious sacrifices are per- 
formed," 

If we regard the new world, we shall find abun- 
dant examples gf the same state, in which the 



* Pallas's Travels, vol. I, p. 383. 

• Greaves, Hist, of Karapschatka, p. 175. 
» Travels, p. 436. 



■306 Of Patriarchal Government, 

fathers or elders are the chief directors of the pub. 
lie weal. Among the Esklmoes, says Hearne^, 
no one claims authority over another, except what 
is due from children to their parents. The same is 
related of those who inhabit the other portion of 
the American continent. The Indians of Araucd, 
.says Uiloa % have no subordination among them^ 
except what regards age ; and the oldest person of 
the family, that is of the village, is respected as it's 
governor. The same government is common to all 
the Indians. For this Franklin ^ is my authority. 
He says, that they have , frequently occasion for 
public councils, in which the old men sit in the 
foremost ranks-j the warriors in the next, the women 
and children in the last. Thus I have traced from 
the nature of man's being and education the patriar- 
;chal origin of .government, and shown by various 
examples in all the great divisions of the world 
it's actual operation. If any one, who agrees with 
me in this deduction, would rather call the autho- 
.rity of a father over his family a ^kingly govera- 
ment, and a confederacy of fathers a confederacy 
•of kings, I make no objection 5 though it 'is a whim- 
sical prejudice, and seems to have been Hooker'-s-'^ 
in the following passage. " It is no improbable 

1 Joarnal, kc, p. 162,. Note. • ^ Vol. 2, pi 281. 
3 Works, voh 1, p.- 185; ' 

* Ecclesiast. Polity, b. 1, p. 6/. ' ' ' 



Of Patriarchal Government. 60t 

©pinion therefore^ which the arch philosopher was 
of, that the chiefest person in every household was 
always as it were a king. So when numbers of 
households joined themselves in civil societies, kings 
were the first kind of governors, which is also, as it 
seemeth the reason, why the name of fathers conti- 
nued still in them who of fathers v/ere made rulers." 

ORIGIN OF A CHIEF IN THE PATRIARCHAL 

GOVERNMENT. 

The patriarchal governraent by no means implies 
that no one was preeminent in it's administration. 
On the contrary, such is necessary in ^11 cases of 
lemergency. The following is an example. "The 
Iroquois, or five nadons, to which a sixth was 
afterward joined, had formed among themselves a 
league resembling a republic, and every transaction 
of moment to any individual tribe of the association 
became a subject of general interest. That people, 
as well as the Hurons, subdivided every village into 
three families ; each family had it's ancients, it's 
chiefs, and it's warriors- The whole of these united 
Qomposed one of the estates of the republic, which 
consisted of several villages regulated after the same 
manner, and which in times of war or of danger 
arranged themselves under one chief'.'* . But inde- 

^ Heriot, p. 550. T may add from Pallas, " The Aba'ssines 
have no princes among them -, and he, whose family is the 

X 2 



SOS Origin of a Chief 

pendent of any perilous conflict, a principal person 
is required, whenever any matter assembles the 
elders in council ; some one must propose the sub- 
ject, or collect the voices, and so forth, for it is 
clear, that all cannot do all things together. For 
whatever purpose this person is appointed, the office 
is first of course occasional. With the increase of 
society, and the frequency of business, the office 
from a casual becomes a regular appointment, The 
following elucidates this observation. The Musco- 
gulges in North America, says Bartram ', are all on 
an equality in the enjoyment of the conveniencies 
of life. Their constitution is merely a state of 
subordination. The sovereign power resides in a 
council of elders, glorious for their valour and wis- 
dom. The head of this assembly is the Mico, or 
chief magistrate. He presides in council, but his 
voice has no more authority than that of any one 
of the assembly. He has the prerogative of calling 
councils to deliberate on all public concerns. He 
gives audience to ambassadors, and receives the first 
visit of strangers ; yet he has no pretensions to en- 
joy exclusively the executive power. The dignity is 

most numerous, or who shows the greatest bravery in piratical 
excursions, is considered as their chief." Travels, vol. 1,' 

p. 38/. 

* Travels, part 4, c. 2, 



in the Patriarchal Government, 309 

elective, and is conferred without public or pri- 
vate solicitation. He enjoys the esteem of his coun- 
trymen, and is not distinguished ^from them by his 
dress or his establishment. 

The same was nearly the state of the chief ma- 
gistracy in Iceland '. In 928, when the various 
families and small clans dispersed over that country- 
were formed into one nation, a person was chosen 
to preside over the legislature : he assembled the 
chiefs, and reported their opinion to the people, 
whose assent was necessary to ratify their decrees. 

It is also probable, when nations, or clans, or 
villages, united to a considerable extent, that, be- 
side the elders and presidents of villages, who re- 
gulated local concerns, a pervading council or 
magistracy occasionally assembled, as the general 
business required the universal assistance of the 
confederacy. Thompson, as quoted by Jefferson *, 
accordingly relates, that " the government of the 
nations of the American Indians is a sort of patriar- 
chal confederacy ; the several towns or families, 
that compose a tribe, having a chief who presides 
over it ; and the several tribes, that compose a 
nation, having a chief who presides over the whole 
nation. These chiefs are generally men advanced 

' Letters on Iceland by Von Troil, p. 67. 
' Notes on Virginia, Appendix, p. 309. 



SIO Origin of a Chief 

in years, and distinguished by their prudence and" 
abilities in council. The matters which regard a 
town or family are settled by the chiefs and prin- 
cipal men of the town ; those which regard the- 
tribe, such as the appointment of head warriors and 
captains, and settling diiferences between different^ 
towns and families, are regulated at a meeting or 
council of the chiefs of the several towns; and 
those which regard the whole nation, such as' 
making war, concluding peace^ &c., are deliberated" 
and determined on in a national council.*' This- 
seems to me an explicit account, so far as it goes, 
of the origin and progress of society and govern- 
ment ; but something more still remains to be 
added. ; 

With the enlargement of society, and the fre^ 
quency of business, the chief patriarchal assembly' 
assumes a double form. The whole body of elders 
find it inconvenient to hold a regular session, or 
even to attend at every meeting that may be called. 
Hence arises the greater and the less council, that 
is a delegation from the greater of the oldest and 
most opulent, as these can with least injury to them« 
selves attend particularly and without interruption 
to the national affairs. Thus in St. Marino the or- 
dinary administration is in the council of sixty, but 
in extraordinary cases the arengo, which . is com- 



r. hi the 'Patriarchal Governmeiit. SlI 

posed of a representative from every house, is as-, 
sembled. The greater and less councils are com- 
mon to all the cantons of Swisserland, as they were 
to the ancient Germans \ In the Low Countrief^. 
also they are customary. The states of each pro-, 
vince, says Bentivoglio ^ meet three or four times a 
year ; but an assembly, which represents the states, 
remains permanent. Thus in America^ the com^ 
mittee of the states consisted of a delegate from 
each province, in v/hich the povs^er of the congress 
in a great measure subsisted during it's recess. 
This minor council in different countries assumed in 
time a different complexion. In some it became a 
council of stat^ to the chief magistrate ; in others^ 
as in France *, where the parliament was properly a 
committee of the States General, it became a court 
of justice ; in others it became the supreme powe'r^ 
or the senate, while the great body whence it ema- 
nated, from the dispersed situation of it's members, 
communicated their power to the assemblies of the 
people. . ^ 

CONCERNING THE MANNER OF ASSEMBLING THE 
.PEOPLE IN SOME ANCIENT STATES. 

At first the people ratified the advice of the elders, 

» Tacit, de Morib. Genn. c. 11. 

* Paesi Bassi^ lib. 1 , c. 4. 

^ American Consiit Artie, g, s, 5. 

* Encyclopedic, word Chancelier, 



312 Concerning the Manner of assemhiing 

of course in an indiscriminate assembly of aJi those 
who composed the tribe or nation. Thus we find 
some of the early confederations among the Swiss 
executed by the people at large, as of Ury, 
Schwitz, and Unterwalden, in 1315 \ Perhaps 
the great council of the Arcadians*, which con- 
sisted of ten thousand, was of the same nature. It 
is obvious, that such a multitude, though it may be 
circumspect, and it's members individually amenable 
for misconduct, in difficulties and dangers, is most 
liable to insubordination and riot. Nor can any 
thing be a more direct condemnation of those vast 
assemblies than a practice generally adopted to check 
their precipitate and tumultuary proceedings. They 
"were allowed to decide only on what was submitted 
to them. To investigate, or debate, they were pro- 
hibited so universally, that Aristotle ^ esteemed a 
contrary practice among the Carthaginians as vicious 
in the extreme, and unique. 

Beside this, other means were adopted in ancient 
states, to qualify the evils of large popular assem- 
blies voting in their own persons. The people were 

' A cette cause, nous, les paysans d'Ury, de Schwitz, et 
d'Unterwalden, faisons a savoir, &c. Leibnitz, Codex Dip- 
lorn. Qg. 

* Pausania^;, lib. 8, c. 32. This seems to have been an im- 
provciritnt suggested by Lycomedes. Diod. Sicul. lib. 15. 

^ De Repub. lib. 2, c. 1 1. Harrington reprehends the, same 
in the Athenian. Oceana, p. 51. 



the People in some ancient States, SIS 

not unfrequently divided into various classes. I 
speak not of those in India and Egypt, where sons 
followed the professions of their fathers, which 
were in fact corporations infinitely more grievous 
than those at present established throughout Europe; 
I speak of the tribes, centuries, and similar arrange- 
ments. 

Xenophon^ says, that all ancient states were 
commonly divided into tribes (xaTa^vXag), classes 
{jjioipag), and centuries (A<?xo;$-), over each C)f 
which particular persons presided ; which, I may 
observe, bears a strong affinity to the government 
of the Americans, as detailed in my quotation from 
Jefferson. Yet this availed little; nor did the prac- 
tice among the Romans before Servius Tullius of 
the people voting by curiae, or his regulations of their 
voting by centuries, prevent the unavoidable evils 
attending such numerous assemblies. Men thought 
select as individuals lose their character when they 
become part of a multitude ; nor do I think that 
any effort of human ingenuity can enable a body 
consisting of thousands to possess a continued tem- 
perance and wisdom in their deliberations. If they 
be not permitted to deliberate, they want liberty ; 
and the prohibition at once declares the inadequacy 
of such numbers for their situation. 

* De Regno, p. 916, Opera. 



^l^ Concerning the Manner of assemhimg 

That the classification and subdivisions of people 
in ancient times were intended to counteract some 
inconveniencies arising from universal suffrage, and 
the tumult and violence attending the assembled 
many, is tolerably obvious, yet we have also the 
express testimony of able writers to this effect, 
^^ The Roman people," says Dionysius of Halicar- 
nassus \ " did not give their votes promiscuously, 
but by curis ; and what was resolved by the ma- 
jority was carried to the senate. But the custom is 
now inverted, for the senate does not deliberate on 
the resolutions of the people, but the people decide 
on the decrees of the senate." This passage from 
the historian is pregnant with information, while it 
also proves, that the Roman people voted by curi^ 
to avoid the inconvenience and evils of a promiscur 
C5US suffrage. Aristotle "^ also argues for the division 
of the people into tribes nearly in a similar spirit r 
^' lest," says he, " certain men might become po- 
pular with tyrannical intentions, as Pisistratus, Thea- 
genes, and Dionysius, the magistrates should be 
chosen not by the whole people, but by tribes." 
So far I am authorized in one part of my position ; 
and until it is shown, that the Rom.an and Athenian 
people were not the dupes of the crafty, the inter- 
ested, and the seditious, I must conclude, that the 

» Lib. 2, c. '14. ' * De Repub. lib. 5, c. 5. 



the people in some' ancient States, ' 515 

means which these states adopted to preserve their 
popular assemblies from imposition and errour \vere 
insufficient. 

It has been generally imagined, that the mode cf. 
noting for laws by representation was a great im- 
provement in the popular constitution of states. 
Rousseau ' however is of a directly contrary opinion. 
Indeed he goes farther, and pronounces, that the 
law, which the people have not ratified in person, 
is -null : and in the same unsupported dogmatical 
tone he affirms, that, where representation is adopt- 
ed, the liberty of the people ceases at the moment 
that they have elected their representatives. This is 
analogous to. another assertion of the same author 
in a different tract, that the i\thenian state Vv^as not, 
as some have ignorantly imagined, a democracy, 
but a tyrannical aristocracy, governed by orators 
and politicians ^ It is the first time that the Athe- 
nian state has been called a tyrannical aristocracv ; 
and his assertion, that Athens was ruled by orators 
and politicians, absolutely defeats his preference of 
the personal to the representative assemblage of the 
people. 

. These assertions by Rousseau manifest extraordi- 
nary precipitation. It is difEcult to imagine a state, 

* Contrat Social, liv. 3, c. 15. 
- ^ Athenes netoit point en effet une demooratie, mais une 
afistocratie tres-tyrannique, gouvernee p^r des savants et des 
©rateurs, De rEconomie Politique, CEuvres, t. 1, p. 2/4, 



SI 6 Progress of the British Constitution. 

so extensive as the Athenian, so extremely civilized, 
and so situate politically and commercially, more 
popular in it*s constitution ; and it is much more 
incomprehensible how any state, not limited nearly 
as Geneva ' to the bounds of a city, could have it's 
laws and government directed by the people in per- 
son. The moment we suppose a state of consider- 
able or even moderate extent, we must suppose that 
the people, if they control the administration, act 
by delegating their power. I have therefore no 
hesitation in saying, that representation is not only 
advisable, but necessary, in a free country extensive 
or populous. But I cannot agree, that this is a 
modern invention ; nor could I admit, if it were,, 
that later ages had much merit for the discovery. 
This I shall show by tracing in a summary manner 
the British constitution, which will also elucidate 
the contemporary progress of various political con- 
stitutions in Europe. 

THE PROGRESS OF THE BRITISH CONSTITUTION, 
PREPARATORY TO SHOWING THE CAUSE OF 
REPRESENTATION IN LATTER TIMES. 

By the earliest accounts it appears that Britain 
was divided into many small states. These had an 

' In the great council of Geneva (as in the ancient com- 
monwealths) no debate is permitted. Coxe, letter 64 on Swis- 
gerland. 



Progress of the British Constitution. 317 

assembly called kifrithin', signifying to treat of mat- 
ters relative to the public weal. The people of 
course chiefly directed the state. Indeed had we 
not authentic evidence * to this elFect, the bravery of 
this people in withstanding so long the invincible 
arms and discipline of the Roman power would 
prove that they must have possessed no ordinary 
share of political importance. 

On the departure of the Romans, who withdrew 
their forces from their outlying dominions, to repel 
the invaders of a frontier, which, being broken, 
exposed Italy to danger; the Britons, who for many 
years had been unused to arms, resumed their mili- 
tary ardour with their freedom, and repelled the 
Irish, the Saxons, and the Scotch, who assaulted 
them in opposite directions both by sea and land. 
At this time Britain consisted of many small repub- 
lics. They arose thus. Rome had instituted, in 
many principal cities of the empire, according to 
it's own government, annual magistrates, a senate, 
and assemblies of the people. The principal cities 
in Britain are said about this time to have been 
thirty-ihree \ Whether this number be accurate or 
not, there is no doubt but the chief cities were of 



" Gordon, Hist, of Parliament, p. 15. 

• Xiphilin. p. 601. 

* Richard of Cirencester, De Situ Britannlae, p. 36. 

3 



318 Progress of the British Constitution^ 

such consequence, that Honorius' addressed his let^ 
ters to them as the objects of political preeminence. 
It is therefore probable, that, when Rome abdicated 
the direction, of Britain, the municipal or subordi- 
nate jurisdictions became coordinate, and supreme 
within their particular districts. It is also probable^ 
that the causes of their original establishment by 
the Romans, the safety of their inhabitants, and 
the general police, not only continued but increased 
their authority when the superintending influence of 
the Roman government had ceased to exist. For 
some time the cities assumed their lawful conse- 
quence, and appeared the heads of so many in- 
dependent republics. They soon however lost their 
power, whether from bad managemeutj or from 
misfortune, or from unavoidable circumstances. 
Suspicion and dissension immediately overspread 
the land, and the whole country was distracted by 
many tyrants, or more properly by leaders of vari- 
ous banditti \ Thus the Britons, subdued' by 
domestic calamities, soon fell before the foreign 
enemy. 

The Saxon conquest was attended with extraor- 
nary consequences. In the first instance it seems 
to have changed the language of the nation. This 



' IT|Oo raj £v Bpsravvia ttoXei;. Zozimus, lib. 4;, p. 383„ 
* Procopius de Bell. Vandal.^ lib. 1, c. 2. 



JPr ogress of the British Constitution, 319 

liowever was not occasioned by the exterminating 
cruelty of the conquerors, but on the contrary by 
the easiness of their rule, which united the con- 
quered and conquerors by the strongest ties. It is 
said, that Ina married the daughter of Cadwallader, 
and that the Saxons, following his example, took 
British wives ; . and the British in like manner 
espoused Saxon women ; which was done by the 
common counsel and assent of all the bishops, 
princes, nobles, earls, wise men, elders^ and people 
of the realm '. In this account we have a full sum- 
mary of the component parts of the supreme au- 
thority of the state at the time. 

The national assembly, called lufriihin by the 
British, was denominated ivittenagemote by the An- 
glo-Saxons. Some have asserted, that this was not 
a national assembly, but a sort of privy counciL 
It has been remarked in opposition, that this mistake 
arose from confounding the court de more with the 
wittenagemote ; the former consisting principally of 
the king's ministers \ while the latter comprehended 
the allodial possessors, and the thanes of the na- 
tion, and was held of course on each of the three 
great festivals. The pov/er of this assembly was 
supreme \ It declared peace and v/ar ; it superin- 

> Whltelocke, c. 81, p. l60. * Cotton, p. 44. 

^ Millar's Eng. Constit. p. 131. 



520 Progress of the British Constitution, 

tended the coinage of money, and the property of 
the crown ; it controlled the king, and might de» 
pose him for maleadministration, as it did Sige* 
bert, king of the West- Saxons. 

Brady was not so absurd as they who confounded 
the wittenagemote with the privy council, though 
he was more inimical than they to the people's poli- 
tical authority in this period. He would reject the 
people from all constitutional power \ though he 
admits, that Ina said, " I have established good 
laws by Kendred, Hebbe, and Echenwold, bishops, 
and by my chief men and wise men of my nation.'* 
To authorize his conclusion he affirms, that wites 
signify nobility. I know not on what grounds he 
assumes so improbable a dogma. The glossarists 
explain wita by wise man. It seems to have re- 
sembled a-o(pog among the Greeks, which, Isocrates * 
says, was first attributed to Solon, and was particu- 
larly applied to men skilled in political affairs; 
though wita and (ro(pog changed entirely their signi- 
fication, the one being used ironically, in a sense 
differing little from wretch, and the other being ap- 
plied to men of false eloquence and affected in- 
genuity. 

^ Answer to Petit, p. 8. 

* De Permutatione, p. 5ig, Opera. Plato, speaking of the 
legislation of Crete, calls Jupiter cQOyrjs. Minos, p, 5Q8. 



Progress of the British Constitution, S2l 

Hume follows Brady on the same side. Neither* 
however could deny, that among the Germans the 
consent of the people was required to all important 
political affairs, for Tacitus is express on tl.is point : 
but Hume^ adds^ " As that historian does not speak 
of representatives, this popular supremacy could 
only exist in small tribes." He continues somewhat 
intemperately to remark, that the popular faction 
will have the ivites or sapient es to be the represen- 
tatives of boroughs ; and what would the preroga- 
tive faction have them considered ? Hume says, that 
burghers m.ade no part of the wittenagemote, be- 
cause they are called principes, optima tes^ &c. I 
do not say, that mem^bers w^ere returned from bo- 
roughs, but I am persuaded, that towns were 
favoured, because commerce was favoured, and so 
eminently, that Athelstan raised a merchant, who 
made three voyages in his own sl:ip, to the dignity 
of thane. It is also clear, that there were either 
thirty-three capital cities according to some, or 
twenty-eight according to Bede % in this period. 
Is it probable, that those cities, which were so di- 
stinguished under the Roman empire, and on whom- 
after the retreat of the Romans from Britain ail po- 

' Answer to Petit, p. 3. 
* Hist, of England, vol. 1, p. 202, Appendix. 
3 Hist. Eccles. lib. 1, c. 1. 
VOL. I. y 



322 Progress of the British Constitution. 

litlcal authority devolved, had no weight in the 
transactions of the state ? Bat this is not at present 
the question so much, as whether the people during 
this period had no influence in the afFairs of the 
state. On what grounds is it presumed, that they 
had not ? The Saxons were indubitably free in their 
own country. How then did these sink into slavery 
in their acquired dominions, who had been most 
free in their native seats ? It is also indubitable, that 
the wittenagemote was composed, as the name of 
the assembly proves, principally of wites : and here 
an observation of Milton in his Answer to Salma- 
sius' forcibly presents itself: "It is as clear as the sun, 
that chosen men from among the common people 
were members of the supreme councils, unless we 
must believe, that no man was wise but the nobility." 
I cannot abstain from a transient remark on an 
insinuation of Hume, that the people cannot be 
considered a constituent part of the wittenagemote, 
as it's members are called principes^ optimates^ &c» 
I perceive little force in this observation, though 
perhaps it would be too like the adversaries of li- 
berty and the people to say, that the principes 
might signify the principal persons of the cities in 
their corporate capacity. The principal cities in 
Britain were modelled on the Roman common- 



C. 8, 



Progress of the British Constitution, 323 

wealth ; so much so, that their chief councils were 
called the little senates ; nor is it improbable, that 
the first person in each of them, as in the Roman 
senate, was called princeps. This supposition I 
therefore conclude defeats Hume's ' objection as to 
the term principes. I may also add, that exalted 
titles by no means exclude ordinary citizens, or even 
burghers, from the wittenagemote. The burghers 
in the council of Holland were termed high mighti- 
nesses 5 and it is certain, that Grotius, in his tract 
on the antiquity of the Batavian republic, calls the 
popular representatives optimaies '^ ; another title^ 
which Hume thinks could alone distinguish the no- 
bility. 

But why need we defend the people's rights by 
incidental expressions, or collateral evidence ? The 
whole system of the state manifested the authority 
of the people. At this period, says Blackstone ^^ 
the dukes or heretochs led and regulated the arm.y 
through the several counties ; and they were elected 
in full assembly by the people in the same popular 
manner as the sheriffs, for it was a maxim of the 
SaxQn laws, that an officer, who might oppress the 

* Hist. vol. 1, Appendix, p. 201, 

® Optimates istos esse duorum ordinum, proceres qui et pri- 
mores et principes dicebantur et dilectos a plebe, eos omnes 
consilio junctos summum babuisse rerum, c. 1. 

I Comment, vol. 1 , p. AOg. 

Y 2 



S24 .Progress of the British Constitution* 

people, should be elected by the people. We also 
learn from most respectable authority \ that by the 
Saxon constitution the king with his council pre- 
pared and presented to parliament the business, which 
should occupy their attention. This was precisely 
the conduct of the French king and his council 
under the second race, when it is certain the people 
sanctioned the lav/s ^. I also refer the reader to the 
beginning .of this volume for instances of the 
people's political authority in many European states, 
which were contem^porary with the Anglo-Saxon. 
Indeed it is unnecessary to employ this or any other 
means, which I have adduced to disprove Brady 
and Hume, as Hume's^ account of Alfred's regula- 
tions, which v/ere extremely popular, is a full re- 
futation of both. He supposes, that they were 
chiefly derived from the customs of the ancient 
Germans, and from the Saxon laius during the 
Heptarchy: and That, like a wise man, Alfred 
contented himself with reforming, extending, and 
executing the institutions, which he found previousltf 
established. In defending the liberty and power of 

^ Henry's Hist, of England, b. 2, c. 3, s. 2. 

® Kincmar de Crdln. Palat. c. 10. The law was reduced to 
form by the chancellor, then proposed by him to the people j 
and, when enacted, he became it's depositary, delivering co- 
pies of it to those, who might demand them. 

^ Kist. vol. 1, p. 95. 



Progress of the British Constitution, 325 

the people in the ancient ages of the British consti- 
tution, I do not consider, that I am establishing 
any right of inheritance in their posterity to freedom 
^nd power. Their fathers could neither lessen nor 
increase that, which all men hold by the prerogative 
of nature. But I think, by showing that Britons 
exercised such rights, I defend the dignity of man, 
whose character must suffer some depreciation by 
the debasement of any nation in any period of so- 
ciety. Yet with this persuasion I cannot agree with 
Millar \ who says, that all who possessed property 
composed the wittenagemote. Had he said, might 
have composed it, he would have been nearer the 
truth ; or had he said, that in the beginning all 
who possessed allodial property composed the wit- 
tenagemote, he had perhaps spoken with accuracy. 
AllodiaP property, that is allotted land, which 
seems to have originated in the same principles as 
feudal property, might hav-e been at it's commence- 
ment actually represented in the wittenagemote by 
it's holders. But when all the property of the state 
became allodial and divided, as all of it became 
afterward feudal and divided, (and the allodial pro- 
perty was still more subdivided than the feudal, f^ 
the feudal law tended to preserve property to 

' English Constit. p. 2 1 6. 

.^ It is derived from aii and lot, Ihnt is, Lind obtainc(/ 



326 Progress of the British Constiiutioru 

same number of individuals, while the Saxon tended 
to increase extremely the proprietors on every suc- 
cession,) it is impossible, that all the possessors of 
allodial land could have composed the wittenage- 
mote. To say so differs little from those who sup- 
pose, that all comers, without order or distinction, 
roted in the great council ; though they have better 
grounds for this surmise than their adversaries, who 
will admit none but nobles within the pale of the 
legislature. This errour arises from certain expres- 
sions, as " such and such was resolved, a great 
multitude applauding." But were these words li- 
terally correct, a conclusion that the multitude par- 
ticipated in their deliberations, or ratified their decree, 
would be illogical. The galleries of the constituent 
assembly of France applauded, though they made 
no part of the legislature ; and the many who are 
represented in the old writers as attending and ap- 
plauding the British counsels might have resembled 
those,- who, according to Connor ', habitually re- 
sorted to the Polish diet, as to a general rendezvous, 
though they had neither business nor authority in it. 
We now come to the predominance of the Danes 
in this island. This I briefly dismiss by quoting 
from Hume% that Canute restored the Saxon laws 
and constitution in a general assembly of the states^ 

^ Hlstcr/ of Poland, vol. 2, p. 101. ® Vol. I, p. 149. 



Progress of the British Constitution. 827 

Another system followed the Norman conquest. 
In many countries, where the inhabitants were rude, 
and in some where they were civilized, conquerors 
have been directed by a feudal spirit in their regula- 
tions. What has been so frequent im.plies a deter* 
minate cause. The conquerors were more brave, 
or better disciplined, than the conquered. But they 
found themselves after their victory a few men 
among many. Though none opposed their do- 
minion, they were in extreme danger from the sur- 
rounding numbers, who had submitted through ne- 
cessity, and who would of course revolt when that 
necessity was removed. By arms they conquered, 
by arms they were to preserve their conquests. 
The spirit of the Britons was so broken about the 
period of Saxon invasion, that the title of their let- 
ters to Rome for assistance, THE GROANS OF THE 
BaiTONs', indicates a temper little likely to endanger 
their conquerors, or excite their suspicion. This 
would of itself account for the moderation of that 
feudal temper in the Saxon period, and the quick 
coalition of the Saxons and the British. But the 
conquerors of the coast of Gaul found more deter- 
mined adversaries in that country, and on passing 
into Britain under William they brought a system of 
military government with them, which the existing 

' Gildae Hist, apud Gale, p. 6. 



S28 Progress of the British Constitution. 

vigour of the inhabitants did not induce them to 
relax. Having defeated the Britons, and acquired 
the sovereignty of the island, they seized and con- 
fiscated the land of those who had personal iy op- 
posed them. This was divided. To the chief the 
greatest share was assigned, to the leaders propor- 
tionate shares of the spoil were also distributed ac- 
cording to their distinction and followers, and by 
the same principle certain portions were allotted to 
every soldier of the camp, till, as the chief was the 
greatest proprietor, the lowest adventurer was the 
smallest. Property gives power ; but property by 
conquest exasperates many, it makes some desperate 
and all suspected. It is true the conquerors might 
make a show of equal rights, and they might pre- 
tend to equity in their proceedings ; but to adopt 
these principles in reality was impossible. How 
could men exercise that power with justice, which 
they had attained by it's violation ? and in another 
vieWj how could the conquerors treat the conquered 
with equity ? were the conquered brave, they were 
dangerous; were they, base, they were despised. 
The leaders and followers of the conqueror v/ere 
rapacious : plunder was their reward for the victory- 
won, and plunder was the bounty which was to re-, 
cruit his forces. Yet still the conquerors were few 
among many. To disband they dared not, to live 
encamped or embodied was unsuitable to their 



Fr ogress of the British Constitution, 323 

habits. They endeavoured at once to enjoy and 
secure their possessions by a relaxed milita'y disci- 
pline. H-nce arose the feudal government The 
king or general was considered as sole proprietor of 
all the land ' : some h 4d from him large tracts di- 
rectly, others less divisions indirectly. By the terms 
of tenure^ the immediate tenants of the crown were 
to obey the king's summons, as the tenants of his 
tenants were to obey the summons of their lords. 
Thus the king, by the feudal institution and it's sub- 
seiuent eftecis, could claim in diffivulty or danger 
the advice and assistance of the whole nation. The 
immediate tenants of the crown were about seven 
hundred, and the whole territory of the nation^ was 
divided into sixty thousand two hundred and fifteen 
knight's fees. So entirely was this a military insti- 
tution, that a freeman and a soldier"^ were synony- 
mous terms. 

We come now to consider vv^ho formed the chief 
council of the nation during the feudal period. 
They who held immediately from the crown are 
admitted to have been of that number. But it is 
affirm.ed, that all others were excluded from enjoy- 
ing this privilege either personally or by representa- 

' Somner on Gavelkind, p. I09. 

* Feodum derived fvomfeo, pay, and od^ possession, 

^ Hume, vol. 1, p. 253. 

^ Pu Cunge^, Gloss, word Miles, 



S30 Progress of the British Constitution, 

don. I should rather suppose^ that originally all 
possessors of feudal property had an influence in 
the great council, though many of them did not 
exercise their right. At present, says Shaw', in 
Algiers and Tunis the whole army has a right to 
assist and agree to all affairs of moment, that occupy 
the government of those respective states. Did not 
the fellow-adventurers of William in Britain stand 
in the same relation to each other as the Turkish 
soldiers to the Turkish government in Africa ? or 
rather was not the dignity of a soldier as high 
among the Normans, as among the Turks, and his 
service then in England as necessary to preserve a 
new conquest-, as now in Algiers or Tunis to sup- 
port an ancient acquisition ? The utmost delicacy 
was required by the chiefs to secure the approbation 
of their followers j any violation of their rights was 
hio'hly dangerous ; and it is much more probable, 
that their privileges were enlarged, than that they were 

* The whole passage is to the following effect. The govern- 
ment of Algiers ditfers little from that of Tiinis. It consists 
of the dey or stadtholder j the divan, composed of thirty yiah 
bashees J the mufti j the kaddy; and the whole army^ of 
what de«^ree soever^ are sometimes called to assist. All affairs 
of moment ought to be agreed to by this assembly, before the 
dey is intrusted to execute them. But for some time this body, 
though it exists, is only formally convened, to consent to such 
propositions as have been concerted by the dey with his fa- 
vourites. Travels, p. 248. 



Progress of the British Constitution, SSI 

curtailed. Additional power however they did not 
want, for they were as free as possible in their na- 
tive land. They decided, people as well as chiefs, 
on all important affairs '. Then how can it be ima- 
gined, that when they settled on the coast of Gaul, 
or overspread the territory of Britain, they lost 
those rights which formerly they bad fully enjoyed ? 
It is true, many of them might have relinquished 
their authority for various reasons ; but I should 
suppose, that at first, all feudal proprietors, that is 
all those who conquered with "William, and their 
immediate descendants, had a right directly or in- 
directly to vote in the national council. 

Nor do I see any reason for concluding, that on 
this conquest the cities lost all their former conse- 
quence ; at least I see some ground for denying, 
that at this period their power was extinct. Brady 
and some others insist, that all towns now sending 
members to parliament derive their privilege from 
royal incorporation. He"^ however admits, that 

* Tacitus. Ammianus MarcelUnus, lib. 31, p. 4/4. It 
seems to have been the constitution of all the Gothic conque- 
rors. I subjoin the opinion of Koch, who has written on the 
Revolutions of Europe I copy it from the extracts from his 
work given in a late Monthly Review. *^ Their governments 
were a sort of military democracies, under chiefs called kings. 
All important matter^ were decided in the general assemblies of 
the freemen, who bore arms, and went to the wars." 

f Answer to i^ttit^ P- 71. 



332 Progress of the British Constitution,, 

some towns in after times sent members to parlia- 
ment, who had no charter; but he denies, that 
they were burghs. I am indifferent v/hat they are 
called 5 but in asserting that they were not burghs, 
he presumes that they had no right. Is it sufferable 
to hear a person denying towns their right to send 
members to parliament, which had many centuries 
ago exercised that right unquestioned ? Hear Brady's 
account of those towns, which he would disfran- 
chise, because they were not burghs. He allows, 
that they were free from toll as burghs, that they did 
not contribute to the wages of knights for shires, 
that they were free from suit of hundred and 
county courts, and that they paid the like taxes and 
talliages. After this coincidence, attend to Brady's 
explanation why towns not burghs were represented 
in parliament : " when the sheriff had the power 
to direct his precept to what burghs, towns, or 
place he pleased, he might send them to large towns 
that had not the consdtutive clause of a burgh, or 
free burgesses, for it was hard to distinguish by out- 
ward appearance such towns from burghs." What, 
could the sheriff, one of the first men of the coun- 
ty, and who generally farmed" the revenue of the 

^ Answer to Petit, p. 77* 

* Barrington's Anc. Stat. p. 137. The constitution of the 
present diet in Hungary strongly resembles perhaps the ancient 
British parliament in the feudal times. The Hungarian diet 



Progress of the British Constitutio7i, 333 

crown, having every possible means of instant and 
authentic information, be ignorant of those rights, 
with which Dr. Brady centuries after was intimately 
acquainted ? But this is a small part of the impro- 
bability ; for he infers by implication^ that the towns 
themselves did not know their own privilege. At 
this period a right to be represented in parliament 
had a different effect from the enjoyment of the 
same rights at present. Now the representative of 
a borough pays or bribes the electors ; then he was 
paid by them. At that period to be represented^ 
was a grievance, for it was expensive, and many 
endeavoured to be freed from the charge. If then 
these tov/ns v/ere not burghs, according to Brady's 
interpretation of the term, why did they not plead, 
in order to avoid the expense of supporting repre- 
sentatives in parliament. No burgh, as they v/ere ac- 
customed to plead poverty on such occasions? This 
Brady admits by the reason he assigns for sherifis 
possessing the povv^er to summon what boroughs 

consists of the magnates, ecclesiastics, governors of counties, 
abbots, deputies of the chapters, depulies from the counties, 
and deputies from the royal free towns. Their votes are taken 
together. Townson's Travels, p. 102. 

^ In Scotland royal buighs were only burdened with sending 
representatives loparHament till 1488. Burghs of barony, and 
those wlio lield of great barons, temporal or spiritual, were 
exempt from the slavery. Pinkerton's Hist, of Scotland, 
vol. 1, p. 369. 



S34f Progress of the British Constitution. 

they pleased, " because some fell into indigent cir- 
cumstances, and were not able to support represen- 
tatives as formerly/' 

I do not mean to intimate, that all or most of 
the towns, which sent members to parliament, pos- 
sessed this privilege independent of the king's char- 
ter. I am on the contrary persuaded, that many 
towns attained this distinction by the liberality of the 
king, and of some great lords, who enfranchised 
or chartered towns in their domains, and which by 
this and other means swelled into important cities* 
Many arose considerably posteriour to the Conquest. 
But this by no means excludes all towns and cities 
from political consequence until 1265, where Lei» 
cester^ it is said, I think ignorantly, summoned 
their representatives to meet in parliament. I have 
shown, that, during the Roman power in Britain, 
certain cities possessed preeminent authority ; I have 
also mentioned my reasons for believing, that they 
resumed a considerable importance commercially 
and politically during the Saxon ascendancy ; and 
though the cities suffered extremely by the conquest 
and it's attending evils, I think it can scarcely be 
doubted, but that some of them retained or retrieved 
in a short time a considerable part of their opulence 
and population. Then on what probable grounds 

^ Hume, year 1265. 



Progress of the British Constitution. S35 

is It asserted, that, prior to 1265, they were un- 
known to the constitution ? Neither directly nor col- 
laterally can I imagine any competent reasons for 
this supposition. Zurita ' says. At a meeting of the 
cortes in Spain, in the year ] 1 33,* representatives 
from towns and cities were present. Here we have 
the positive authority of a very industrious annalist, 
who mentions, that certain towns of Spain were re- 
presented In the Spanish parliament almost a century 
and a half prior to the time, at which some have 
dated their first political existence in Britain. Nor 
does he maintain it as a new invention. It merely 
occurs like any ordinary circumstance in the course 
of his narrative. 

Littleton ^ is of opinion, that some towns In Eng- 
land were incorporated under the Saxon kings, and 
that the charters of their Norman successors were 
not charters of enfranchisements, but a confirma- 
tion of those privileges which they formerly enjoyed. 
Du Bos ^ likewise conjectures, that the greater cities, 

* Procuradores de las Cludadas y Villas, t. 1, p. 51. Towns- 
end, Travels, vol. 2> p. 37;. is wrong in saying, that we notice 
the commons for the first time in Arragon, in 1 133, and in 
Catalonia in 1283. I have shown, that they are centuries older 
than this by historical documents quoted in the beginning of 
this volume, and Robertson has evinced the same in his Notes 
on Charles the Fifth. 

* History of Henry the Second, vol. 2, p. 317- 

' Hist, Crit. de la Monarchie Franc, t. 1, p. 18; t. 2, p. 524. 



SS6 Progress of the BriikJi Constitiitwh* 

which had escaped the fu^y of the barbarians, still 
iretained their ancient form of government : and 
Robertson intimates, that he brings strong presump- 
tions in favour of his opinion. It is also evident, 
that some charters ^ in the twelfth and thineenth; 
centuries merely confirm the privileges previously 
possessed by those to whom they are granted ; and 
some cities have claimed them as their right possess- 
ed without interruption from the time of the Ro- 
mans \ With regard to some of our own Doroagh 
towns "Whiteiocke asserts ^5 that many, as Boston^, 
Colchester, and V/arwick, send members to par- 
liament by prescription : and Lambert urites^ , that 
many boroughs, '• which elect to the British house 
of commons, are so ancient and decayed, that it 
cannot be shown that hey had any reputation since 
the Conquest, so that their privilege groweth by 
ancient usage pror to the Conquest." 

Yet some, I know not by what perversity of in- 
tellect or depravity of mind, will not allow any but 
the cliief nobility to have had any control or au-^ 
thority in the naiional council uniil 1265 ; though 
it is admitted, that Henry the Second assembled the 
people and clergy at Clarendon above half a century 

^D'Arher. Spicileg^. v. 11, p 345. 

* Du Bos, Hist. Crit., &c. t. 2, p. 333. 

* On Parliament, c. 81^ p. ISg. 

* Axcheecon, p. 256. 

3 



Progress of the British ConstitUiion, SS? 

before this period. Brady however attempts to de- 
feat the importance of this fact by asserting, that, 
whenever the people are mentioned singly with the 
clergy, they signify the great people. This Tyrrel ^ 
denies ; and surely Whitelocke^ is not presumptuous 
in suggesting, that by people there is a reasonable 
intendment, that some of the commons were present. 
Indeed the presumption belongs entirely to their 
adversaries. Suppose it had been said, that Henry 
the Second assembled nobles and clergy instead of 
clergy and people, this Brady and Hume would of_ 
course assert wholly excluded the people. They 
would hov/ever be wrong in both ; in those ages 
the word nobleman was used to distinguish a free- 
man from a dependant, as the following quotation 
from St. Palaye ^ clearly evinces. " Nobles were 
alone admitted to the tournaments. They also made 
inquiry into the condition of those who presented 
themselves, in the same manner as was practised in 
the time of St. Chrysostom in the combats of the 
circus. The Agonothete demanded in a loud voice 
if any one could say, that he who presented him- 
self at the combat was a slave, &c." Nobleman 
had in those times a signification more general than 
gentleman at present. 

'Biblioth. Polit. * C, 1, p. 15. 

^ Meinoires de la Cheval. Sec. p. 94. 
VOL, I. Z 



SS8 Progress of the British Constitution. 

I shall consider another observation of the adver- 
saries of freedom. Brady says^ that, as the coun- 
cil was called baronagium regni^ the commons 
could not be included in it. After what has been 
said against the people, I think it might be imagined, 
that at this period they did not exist in Britain, for 
no term, popular or otherwise, is permitted to com- 
prehend them. To proceed, baronagium excludes 
them, says Brady. But did it never occur to this 
writer, that words change their signification, and 
even classes their character ? The dictum ^ of Ke- 
nel worth begins, knights and esquires who were 
robbers., nor have knights and esquires become more 
reputable since that time than the word baron has 
become more important. Formerly baron had a 
very general signification. In William the First's 
reign the citizens of London are called barons in a 
writ directed to Eustachius sheriff of that city. Nor 
is the title limited to the citizens of the metropolis : 
it is applied to those of York, Chester, and Fever- 
sham". So far was baron from dignifying persons as 
at present, that Selden % in his notes on Eadmerus, 
says anciently it afforded little distinction ; and in 

* Hume's Hist, of Eng. vol, 2, p. 228. 

* Whitelocke, c. 81, p. 135. 

^ Vocabulum / baro' nempe alia significatione quara vulgO; 
eos duntaxat ut hodie significare, quibus peculiaris ordinum 
comitiis locus est. 



I 



Progress of the British Constitution, 3S9 

his Tithes of Honour ', that it had a loose and in- 
determinate meaning. Camden^ in hke manner from 
it's derivative considers it equivalent to freeman. 

It is not however to be presumed, that, when I 
favour the privileges of the people, I mean to ascer- 
tain the precise mode of their poHtical interposition 
or authority. I am persuaded, Hume ^ is right in 
saying, that during the feudal state the notion of 
feudal rights was vague and indeterminate. The 
king was occasionally despotic and powerless, the 
chief barons alternately oppressing and oppressed, 
the people in like manner tumultuary and abject, as 
the persons who filled those different situations were 
respectively energetic or imbecile, enterprising or 
remiss. Every thing relating to the constitution was 
extremely irregular; even the parliament was so 
variously named, that Petit* reckons thirty different 
appellations for it in this period. Sometimes a place 
sends representatives to parliament, and sometimes 
not. In the twenty. sixth of Edward the First Cain 
in Wiltshire makes no return, in the thirty-sixth it 
resumes it's office. In the forty-third of Edward 
the Third four boroughs are omitted in the return 

' P. 578. 

* He derives it from bar, quo liberum et sui juris si^nificat, 
Britan. p. 121. 

^ History, vol. I, p. 453. 

* Antiquity of the Commons, p. 98. 

Z2 



540 Progress of the British Constituiion, 

for Wilts, which had formerly elected to parliament. 
Nor was this peculiar to England. In Spain, in 
1349 ^, eighteen cities return members to the cortes: 
In 1 390 % forty-eight cities send members to that 
assembly; and in 1505^, the electors are again 
only the former number of eighteen. Even in the 
counties the number of representatives varied. In 
Leicester's parliament two knights were summoned 
from every shire, and two deputies from every bo- 
rough ; yet in the year following, 1266, a par- 
liament was called, at which all the chief men % 
and all the wives of the counts and barons who had 
been either slain or captived, were assembled. Yet 
it appears by the tv/enty-third of Edward^ the 
Third, that one person usually represented a county; 
though by the tv/enty-third of Edward the First 
Bedford sent three, without including the deputies 
from boroughs. But do this irregularity and con- 



^ Mariana, b. \g, c. 7. 

" Geddes, Miscel. Tracts, vol. 1, p. 331. 

' Zurita Anales de Aragon, t. 4, p. 3. Some forfeited their 
privilege to send members to the cortes. It is said, tliat the 
people of Minorca lost theirs by neglecting to use it. Arm- 
strong's Hist, of Minorca, letter Q. 

* Magnates terrae et omnes uxores comitum et baronum qui 
in bello occisi fuerunt vel captivorum. Annal. Waverl. Gale, 
t. 3, p. 220. 

^ Barrington's Ancient Stat. p. 221 . 



Progress of the British Constitution, 341 

fusion prove, that the people had no authority in 
the state ? do they not, if they prove any thing, in- 
duce a contrary conclusion ? The king's authority 
depended principally on his personal character, of- 
ficially it vi^as feeble. Hume admits this. In speak- 
ing of the conduct of the war by Philip of France 
and Richard he adds, " a certain proof of the ex- 
treme weakness of princes in those ages, and of 
the little authority they possessed over their refrac- 
tory vassals \" Nor had the chief lords greater 
authority over their vassals, than the king had over 
them. The king of Scotland ^~ was the most limited 
prince in Europe. Here then we might expect, 
that the great vassals of the crown should possess 
the most absolute dominion over those who were 
subjected to them. But I have already proved from 
lord Selkirk, that they preserved their influence by 
the greatest condescension and the frankest manners ; 
nor is it unimportant to adduce an instance of their 
independence from Adam Smith\ About thirty years 
ago, says this writer, Mr. Cameron of Lochiel, a 

^ Vol. 2, p. 10. The vassals of the crown were in many 
respects sovereigns, they coined money, levied troops, and 
judged in their own districts without appeal. In France these 
prerogatives were wrested from them by Lev^'is the Eleventh, 
Boulainvilliers, Anc. Par. de France. 

^ R-obertson says so of the king of Scotland, b. 1, p. /O. 

^ Wealth of Nations, vol. 2, p. 129. 



342 Progress of the British Constitution, 

vassal of the duke of Argyle, used to exercise the 
highest criminal jurisdiction over his own people, 
and in 1745 he drew eight hundred of his own 
people into rebellion with him. 

The feudal government was military, yet not of 
a general and mercenaries, but of a leader and his 
companions in arms. When the northern people 
had conquered different nations in Europe, the se- 
curity of their possessions and their own safety de- 
pended on the mutual good understanding between 
all their ranks and orders. Nor was any circum- 
stance more likely to effect this, than the popularity 
of the chiefs with their fellow soldiers. Was this 
to be promoted by disfranchising them ? On the con- 
traiy, their confidence and attachment wei'e to be 
secured by their enjoying ancient rights in their new 
acquisitions, and particularly that first and greatest 
right — to consult in common on all that regarded a 
common interest. That they possessed this right 
while they continued a separate people from the 
conquered, why should we doubt ? and what reason 
is there for supposing, that they lost it when they be- 
came incorporated with the natives ? Is it not as pro- 
bable, that they communicated their privileges to 
those with vi^hom they associated, as that they lost 
them by their society ' ? Take the question in any 

^ I may add, that vassallus is said to be '*' quasi bassallus, i. e. 
inferior socius." CunDingham's Law Diet, word Vassal. 



Progress of the British Constitution, 343 

point of view, all who can be supposed to have for- 
feited their rights were the conquered, and those 
only from the time of the conquest to that of their 
incorporation with the conquerors. This body gra- 
dually diminished, until the time of Henry the Se- 
cond ', when it entirely disappeared by the complete 
coahtion of all the families of the community. Yet 
this body, which so rapidly by the course of events 
retrieved it's consequence, was perhaps in England 
more fortunate than the same description of people 
in any other country of Europe*, if, as Hume^ ob- 
serves, the county courts were peculiar to England, 
being retained from the Saxon institutions by 
the conqueror. In these, he adds, all the free- 
holders of the county, even the greatest barons, 
were obliged to attend the sheriiF. This also mani- 
fests the povv^er of the people, which is further 
proved by the popular election^ of the sheriffs, who 
were chosen by all the freeholders of the county. 

My conclusion therefore is, that, in the Saxon 
period, all allodial proprietors had a right to vote 
in the national council, whether they exercised it 
or not ; and that the right was also enjoyed by all 

* Hume says, that in this reign the Normans, and the other 
foreign" famihes established in England, were entirely incorpo- 
rated with the people. Vol. I, p. 465. 

^ Vol. 2, p. 122, note. 

' Blackstone's Comment, vol. 1^ p, 33p, 



S44 Progress of tJie British Constiluiion, 

the feudal proprietors during the Norman dynasty. 
That this right was not universally used, is certain. 
The subdivision of property, and the distance of 
many of the proprietors from the place of conven- 
tion, rendered it impracticable. But their rights 
were not on this account extinguished, as is proved 
by the employment of representation, which did not 
pretend to create popular privileges, but endeavoured 
to accommodate ancient rights to existing circum- 
stances ; that is, the right of citizens to vote in the 
national assembly, which their divided property, 
their dispersed and distant settlements, and the in- 
creased and increasing population, rendered them 
personally unable to enjoy. 

When this event took place I do not determine, 
as others have presumed to do ; Dr. Brady dating 
It no higher than the forty-ninth of Henry the Third, 
Dr. Heylin referring it generally to Henry the Se- 
cond's reign. Bacon to the reign of Henry the First, 
and Sir Walter Raleigh specifying the eighteenth of 
the same king. These and others seem to me mere 
suppositions ; but I am inclined to think, that he 
who can advance furthest into antiquity is the nearest 
the truth. There was a representation in Wales, 
though perhaps not a regular and constant represen- 
tation, to the national assembly in the ninth century; 
as Hoei Dha', when he proposed reforming the laws 

* Preface to Leof. WalJachiae. 



Progress of the British Constitution. 345 

of the kingdom, directed, that six deputies should 
be elected from each county, two from the clergy, 
and four from tde laity. Hoveden ^ also remarks, 
that William the First, soon after his conquest, re- 
quired twelve Enghsh nobles, wise men and learned 
in the laws, to be returned from each county, to 
show what were the customs of the country ; and 
in '2\ 5, in John's reign, " the freeholders of each 
county were directed to choose twelve knights, who 
were to report such evil customs as required redress 
conformably to the tenour of the Great Charter/* 
This, Hume" in a note says, " seems a very strong 
proof, that the house of commons was not then in 
being ; otherwise the knights and burgesses from the 
several counties could have given in to the lords a 
list of grievances without so unusual an election/' 
Whether there were a house of commons or not, I 
do not inquire ; but I see no reason for concluding, 
that this extraordinary election should induce a be- 
lief, that the commons had then no representatives 
in parhament. To suppose that they had not from 

* In Henr. Secund. p. 342. 

® Vol. I , noie K, p. 478. I find in my notes the following 
passage : *' I'here is in the close roll of the 15th oi John a writ 
to the sheriff' of Oxon, and also similar writs to other shcriiFs, 
ordering him to send four discreet knights, to confer with the 
king at Oxford. Whilelocke, c 81 , p. 1 20." If this be true, 
it stiil further confirms my argument. 



346 Progress of the British Constitution* 

this circumstance, would authorize an opinion that 
the provisions of the Oreat Charter were innovations 
on the jurisprudence of the country ; which how- 
ever Hume expressly contradicts, saying, " that the 
most material parts of it (of the common law as 
practised in the reign of Edward) were comprehend- 
ed in Magna Charta/' If their Magna Charta were 
only an extraordinary authentication of known laws, 
why should not the twelve knights from each county 
in the same reign be an extraordinary parliament ? 
This however is certain, from the instances I have 
quoted, that representation was known and practised 
in this island, not only before the time assigned by 
Brady and Hume for the representation of free- 
holders in the British parliament, but that it is to be 
dated nearly two centuries previous to the conquest. 
Thus, preparatory to showing the cause and origin 
of representation in latter times, I have traced the 
progress of the British government from the earliest 
period. It is highly interesting to the English 
reader, and the political theorist ; for, while it di- 
rectly displays the fortune and alterations which a 
great empire had undergone, during many centuries, 
it indirectly involves the dignity and depression, the 
changes and vicissitudes, which from similar causes 
attended the most powerful nations in Europe during 
the same period. 



Representation known to the Jlncients^ 347 

REPRESENTATION KNOWN TO THE ANCIENTS, 

It is generally supposed, that representation is a 
modern discovery. That it was not generally prac- 
tised in Rome and Athens, as at present understood, 
is true. The cause of this has perplexed many ; it 
is however by no means inexplicable. While Rome 
was confined to the seven hills on the banks of the 
Tiber, and even after some villages had been added 
by compact or force to the original territory, all 
could vote in their own persons without trouble or 
expense. The Athenians were in a similar situation. 
Attica not being larger than an English county, it's 
citizens could easily assemble at Athens on any im- 
portant occasion. The early Romans and Atheni- 
ans were precisely circumstanced as the northera 
tribes in their native seats ; consequently their politi- 
cal constitutions were the same, so far as they all 
"voted on public concerns of moment in their proper 
persons. It might be supposed, that, when they 
became conquerors of considerable nations, they 
should also pursue a corresponding policy. But it 
is also to be considered, that, though equally con- 
querors, their conquests were made under different 
circum.stances. The northern tribes fought for lands 
and habitations : the Romans, on the other hand, 
fought for dominion and tribute. The empire of 
the Romans continued at Rome, though their for- 



348 Representation known to the Ancients* 

tune and their arms overspread the world ; while the 
northern conquerors settled amidst their conquests, 
and transferred their rights with themselves. In an 
after period, when natives and foreigners, conquer- 
ors and conquered, became one numerous people 
extended over a vast territory, they continued to 
exercise those rights by delegation, which in a con- 
fined tract they had personally enjoyed. 

Yet Adam Smith and a thousand others err in 
saying, " that the idea of representation was un- 
known in ancient times \" What was the govern- 
ing power in Sparta ? A senate, consisting of twenty- 
eight persons chosen by the people for life, and of 
the ephori, five more, chosen annually by the people, 
who were as absolutely representatives of the people 
as any that ever existed. Harrington ^ errs, though 
not to the same extent as Smith, when he affirms, 
that the first example of a popular assembly by way 
of representation is when Athens reduced her co- 
mitia to ^yq thousand. To show, that the ancients 
we];e perfectly acquainted with this principle, I maj 
remark, that Antiphon (who Thucydides ^ says was 

^ Wealth of Nations, b. , c. 7, p. .500. ^ Oceana, p. 158. 

^ Lib. 8, p. 600. Something like this happened at Florence 
on the restoration of the Medici. Fifteen were chosen, who 
had power to elect sixty more, and these seventy-five were to 
be a council for the government of the state. Giovio's Life of 
Leo the Tenth. PJato adopts a complicated election. First 



Representation known to the Ancients, S49 

most capable for wisdom and eloquence, and of 
probity equal to any of the Athenians) proposed, 
that five prytanes should be elected; — that these 
should choose one hundred, v/ho again should se- 
verally choose three; and that this body should 
apply their skill and industry to reform the consti- 
tution of the state. Nor was this proposal unautho- 
rized by similar commissions in Greece. I have 
said, that the ephori w^ere chosen from the com- 
munity by all the people, who elected three men, 
each of whom appointed one hundred. This ac- 
count of Xenophon is corroborated by an anecdote 
in Plutarch. Psedaretus' was a candidate for a 
situation in this body : having failed, instead of la- 
menting his rejection, he gloried, that Sparta had 
three hundred citizens more v/orthy than himself. 

That the ancients were not only acquainted with 
the principles of representation, but that they ac- 
tually exercised it, there can be no doubt. There 
was a popular representation at Athens ; and the 
Athenian legislature, properly so called, consisted 
of popular representatives, strange as this may ap- 
pear to many. First, there was a senate of five 
hundredp formed by fifty elected from each of the 

300 are to be chosen ; then one hundred are to be elected out 
of these ; then thirty-seven out of these, who are to hold the 
'chief magistracy. De Legib, lib. Q, p. S56, 
* Plutarchp Lycurgus. 



S50 Representation known to tJie Ancients^ 

tm tribes. This assembly prepared the laws for the 
people. Secondly, there were one thousand and 
one nomothetes, that is, legislators chosen by the 
people. These were to be thirty years of age *, 
they were particularly sworn, and their oath * ascer- 
tains, that no law was either rescinded or enacted 
without their express approbation. With such ex- 
traordinary jealousy and circumspection, and with 
other cautions, vv hich I shall hereafter mention, was 
the legislation of Athens conducted. Indeed they 
were of such a nature, that they should rather be 
placed among the lost inventions by Pancirollus, than 
added to Dutens* catalogue of ancient discoveries 
attributed to the moderns. 

I am surprised also, that they who assert repre- 
sentation to have been unknown to the ancients 
should have overlooked a state of representation 
recorded in history, not merely coincident, but 
identical with that employed in Great Britain, and 
the alterations of which curiously accord with the 
changes undergone by the British constitution during 
different periods. I speak of the Amphictyonic 
council ^. If we consider the early cages of Bri- 
tain, it consisted, after the departure of the Ro- 



1 Demosth. adv. Timocrat. p. ygQ. * Ibid. p. 778. 

^ The Bceotian cities had eleven delegates, who constituted a 
political assembly. Thucyd. lib. 4, p. 313. 



Representation known to the Ancients. 351 

mans, of many republics, which afterv/ard decreased 
in number, and became kingdoms. Their separate 
interests having ceased, they formed an incorporate, 
as the states of Greece by the Amphictyonic coun- 
cil did a federal, union. Their resemblance is much 
stronger in many other respects. Those towns and 
people who had a seat at first in the Amphictyonic 
council sent each two deputies, who had two voices. 
Such was the number elected locally to the English 
parliament. The Amphictyonic deputies were partly 
clerical \ and partly laical. So were the members 
of the English parliament. Their mutual business 
equally regarded the church ; and equally fatal to 
the interests of their respective countries was the in- 
terference of both assemblies on the subject of re- 
ligion ; — in Greece, by fomenting the sacred war, 
which sacrificed the liberties of it's people to Philip ; 
— in England, by the crcisades, by the laws concern- 
ing catholics and reformers, and by the events of 
the present day, when a desperate faction, headed 
by the clergy, cried " No popery" in parliament. 
The yell went abroad, and vexation and enmity 
unnerved the nation, when England was engaged 
in a more arduous contest than Greece when she 
attempted to set Hmits to the tyranny of Philip, and 
against a power far greater than the Macedonian. 

* jEschines adv. Ctesip. p. 447, 



352 Local and Numeral Division of the People* 

There are other coincldencies between the council 
of the Amphictyons and a modern parliament. 
The English parliament received an accession of 
members by the Scottish and Irish unions ; so did 
the Amphictyonic council under Augustus \ The 
right to elect had also a corresponding variation in 
both. Soaie states nominated two deputies ; some 
alternately ; while Athens, Delphi, and Nicopolis 
had representatives at all the general assemblies. 
In like manner deputies are elected from towns and 
counties to the present parliament ; some nominate 
one, some two ; and some, whose authority was en- 
tire and independent^ are now joined in electing 
a single deputy. 

CONCERNING THE LOCAL AND NUMERAL DIVI- 
SION OF THE PEOPLE PREPARATORY TO THEIR 
REPRESENTATION. 

I have already spoken of the propriety of a cen- 
sus of the people and their property ; nor is it less 
useful, that the people should be divided into prin- 
cipal and subordinate bodies. In Sparta ^ the ter- 
ritory was divided into TroKsig^ as Athens was into 
^Yju^oi ; and Laconia, hke Crete, consisted of a 
hundred cities. Beside this, the people were di- 

^ Pausanias, lib. 10, c. 8, from twelve to twenty people. 
* Cragius de Repub. Lacoii. lib. , c. 2, p. p. 



Local and Numeral Division of the People, S5S 

vided into six tribes ', and these into public tables, 
each of fifteen persons > Athens at first consisted 
of four tribes, but Clisthenes^ increased them to 
ten. The chief and subordinate divisions of this 
state were (pparopai ^ ^rijjioh and ysw/iroci ^ which 
last comprised thirty families. These were in effect 
minor republics, as in them the business of the clan 
or village was regularly debated and passed^ as were 
in the great assembly of the people at Athens the 
affairs of the state. The regulations of China also 
deserve to be noticed. 

We are told, that Fohi had China measured and 
(divided ^ He ordered, that two hundred and forty 
paces in length, and one in breadth, should make a 
■moUy and one hundred mous a king. He also di- 
rected, that nine kings should make a tsing^ which 
should be the quantity of land apportioned to eight 
families in the following manner : each of the eight ^^ 

' Cragius de Repub. Lacon. lib. c. 2, p. 48. 

* Plutarch, Lycurgus. ' Herodotus, lib. 5, c. QQ, 

* Demosth. adv. Eubulid. p. 884. *Ibid. p. 916. 

* Du Halde, Hist, of China, vol. 1, p. 277. 

' Sir G. Staunton says, that tithings are now in use in China. 
Embassy, vol. 2, p. 150. We have four accounts of this em- 
bassy. Three of them have been written by authors, who 
were either ignorant of what had been written on that empire, 
or wilfully neglected those sources of information. Lord Ma- 
carttiey says he read every thing that regarded it, and made 
many personal inquiries. I don't doubt it j but his account is 
in the nature of memoir writing, or rather mere memoranda. 
VOL. I. 2 A 



354 i^ocal and Numeral Division of the People. 

families was to have a king, and the remaining king 
in the middle was to belong to the emperor. He 
ordered, that three tsings should be a hoki, three 
kokis a street, five streets a towri^ ten towns a tou^ 
ten tons a chey and ten cAe<s a tcheou: These divi- 
sions are too numerous for the purpose of represen- 
tation. Let us turn to our ov;n country. 

England was divided into counties ; trithings \ 
which exist at present in York under the corrupt 
term of riduigs ; hundreds ; tithings ; demvills, 
which Spelman' says consisted of five families ; and 
hamlets, which, according to a conjecture of the 
same author, contained fewer than five families. 
This has been imputed to Alfred ; but the institu- 
tion of hundreds was established in France and 
Denmark two centuries before Alfred's reign % and 
it was a customary distinction among the Suevi \ 
Indeed similar divisions are almost natural. The 
Calmucs ^ are divided into ten or twelve khatouns^ 
and these into a hundred tents. The Hurons and 
Iroquois class every village under three denomina- 
tions^, the wolf, the bear, and the tortoise, and 
their villages consist of about a hundred cabins' 

'Bkckstone, vol. 1, p. Il6. * Glossary, 274. 

^ Blackstone's Comment, vol. 1, p. 115. 
* Caesar de Bello Gall. lib. 4, c. 1. Lindenbrog's Gloss, vo^ 
Ceiitenarius. 

^ Pallas's Voyage, t. 2, p. ipi. 
^ Heriot's Travels, p. 550, ' Ibid. p. 280. 

8 



Best Manner of Representation. S55 

with seven families in each, Peru^ was divided into 
tens, fifties, hundreds, five-hundreds, and thou- 
sands of families ; and Heriot "" on another occasion 
remarks, that the American Indians consider tiie 
number ^^ ten as a perfect number ; they reckon the 
units to the amount of ten, then the tens by units 
to a hundred, and a hundred in hke manner to a 
thousand." On the same simple principles would 
I divide the people. 

OF THE BEST MANNER OF HAVING THE PEOPLE 
REPRESENTED. 

I have already observed, that representation is 
advantageous to small, and necessary to extensive 
nations, who would secure their freedom. For this 
purpose 1 would have the population, rejecting all 
other divisions, vseparated into tithings, centuries, 
and counties : each county to consist of an equal 
number of centuries. I would have every tithing, 
or ten houses, elect annually a decurion or presi- 
dent ; every ten decurions elect a centurion, who 
with his fellows should elect from the county at 
large tv/o representatives to parliament. If the state 
were extremely small, as Geneva, the people might 
be represented by the decurions : if something 
larger, as Attica, by the centurions ; but in a con- 

' Heriot's Travels, p. 566. « Ibid. p. 489. 

2 A 2 



356 Of the hest Manner 

siderable state the centurions should not be the fe- 
presentatives, but the immediate electors to the re- 
presentative assembly. By a considerable state I 
mean one as populous and extensive as England or 
Ireland; and referring to these, my scheme vi^ould 
stand thus — Suppose England's 

Population ----- 12,000,000 

Houses, four ' to a house, - - 3,000,000 

Tithings, ten houses to a tithing, - 300,000 

Hundreds^ ten tithings to a hundred, 30,000 

If it were thought advisable, to have five hun- 
dred representatives in parliament, and two repre- 
sentatives from each county, this population and 
division give two hundred and fifty counties, each 
county comprehending one hundred and twenty 
hundreds, or twelve hundred tithings, twelve thou- 
sand houses, and forty- eight thousand people. 

If in Ireland it were thought necessary to have 

^ I have tal^en the population as four to a house : it is gene- 
rally estimated higher. Much depends on the habits of so- 
ciety } in some countries every house is a sort of patriarchal 
state, containing sons and daughters, and their wives and hus- 
bands, and their children, &c. Much also depends on the 
progressive, retrograde, or stationary nature of society. In a 
populous and thriving country I found on an estimate, that 
there were above five to a house, and that there was an inhabi- 
tant for every acre. Yet on the other hand Townsend men- 
tions a district in Spain, which had only 120 persons to /O 
houses. Travels, vol. 1, p. 235. 



of having the People Represented, ^51 

five hundred representatives, which I cannot imagine, 
a much smaller number of hundreds must form a 
county than in England. But if, on the contrary, 
it were thought, that three hundred representatives 
would be sufficient for all it's local and imperial 
concerns, and that it's population amounted to five 
millions, pursuing the same calculation of houses, 
&c. as before mentioned, each of the hundred and 
fifty counties in Ireland would contain a fraction 
more than eighty- three hundreds, or thirty-three 
thousand three hundred and thirty-three people. 

I have said, that I would have the inhabitants of 
ten houses choose a decurion, the decurions choose 
a centurion, and the centurions elect the represen- 
tatives from counties to parliament. This graduated 
representation I consider nearly as great an improve- 
ment on simple representation, as the representative 
system in passing laws on that of legislating by uni- 
versal suffrage. Nor can 1 perceive any reason 
against this invention, unless it may be thought by 
some political fanatics, that, because it was partly 
adopted by the French after their revolution, this 
circumstance should cast a shade on it's merits. I 
think as indifferently of the French constitution, of 
which the graduated representation made a part, as 
any one in his senses can do ; but I do not condemn 
it without exception. It shows sagacity to distin- 
guish what is right from what is wrong, and it 



S5B Of the best Manner 

shows wisdom and equity to separate the good from 
the bad in the same question or in the same charac- 
ter. Catiline's desperation on the field of battle 
bordered on bravery, and Pecronius ended his volup- 
tuous life wdih distinguished fortitude. So also the 
abortive constitution of the French had regulations of 
deserved celebrity. To condemn any law or regula- 
tion because it has been associated with customs or 
laws impotent or pernicious, is to judge by prejudice 
or passion. Let us equally reject the bad from the 
good, and select the good from the imperfect, as 
Plato ^ said of some provisions, which he adopted 
from the Gnossians, " If they be good, it signifies 
not whence they are derived.'* Fortunately how- 
ever for the ease of such objectors^ this graduated 
representation has other examples, to authorize it's 
establishment. It was used at Rome on the revival 
of the senate in the eleventh century. This assem- 
bly consisted of fifty -six persons, whom Gibbon^ 
conjectures to have been annually chosen by a body 
of representatives, previously elected by the people, 
consisting of ten persons from each region or 
parish. This I mention^ for the benefit of tender 
consciences, who, so far from profiting by the wis- 
dom of others, will not do right, because such had 
been their practice or such principles had directed 
the proceedings of their rivals or enemies. 

^ Lib, 4, p. 820. ^ Eoman Empire, c. 69, p. 49'8. 



k 



of having the People Represeiited, S59 

This graduated scale seems to me to embrace every 
possible advantage, while it avoids all those disad- 
vantages and inconveniencies, as far as human pru- 
dence can apprehend, that disfigure and • disgrace 
similar institutions. It gives to every man a suitable 
consequence in the state. The lowest orders de- 
termine those matters not only the best suited to 
their understanding, but those which they can better 
estimate than any other description of people in the 
community, — the characters of their neighbours ^ 
In like manner the decurions, the presidents of the 
tiihings, enjoy the best opportunity of knowing the 
reputation of those who inhabit a wider circle, and 
on this account they are most fit to nominate the 
centurions. These again are fittest to elect repre- 
sentatives to the national council, w^ho must be con- 
sidered, if the free and regulated voice of their 
countrymen be supposed capable of forming an ac- 
curate judgment, the m.ost sufficient for probity and 
talents to direct the public affairs. Thus each man 
fills his proper place, and each is distinguished ac- 
cording to his qualifications in the service of hia 
country. 

It's advantages directly and incidentally are nu- 
merous. It tends to associate the people in the 

* This might exempUfy a remark of Montesquieu's, " Le 
peuple est admirable pour choisir ceux, a qui il doit confiet 
quelque partie de son antoritc. L'Esprit des Loix, liv. 2, c. 2. 



S60 Of the lest Manner 

strictest intimacy; which is most favourable to free- 
dom, while the subordination of it's parts insures 
permanent strength and universal tranquillity. Thus- 
it equally guards against despotism, which confounds 
all, by degradifig all ; and against democracy, 
which confounds all, by distinguishing none. 

By dividing a people into tithings, hundreds, 
and counties, with the reguladons which I have 
mendoned concerning them, the spirit that disdn- 
guished the small free states of ancient times would 
be communicated to populous and extensive nadons, 
while the evils which affected these distinguished 
republics would be prevented. In whatever way 
this scheme is viewed, it's advantages are obvious 
and manifold. It would tend to make every man 
solicitous concerning his reputation and his acquire- 
ments, as each man's character and conduct would 
be often reviewed by his fellow cidzens, and as the 
frequency of popular elections would afford to all 
numerous occasions of having their services distin- 
?ruished by the people. Such was the situation of 
the inhabitants of Atdca, and their knowledge was 
commensurate with their consequence in the state j 
for so generally were all ranks instructed in what- 
ever related to the commonwealth, that Thucydides^ 
says, he who was not acquainted with polidcs was 

' Lib. 2, p. 124. 



I 



of having the People Represented, 36 1 

v. 

thought not only an idle but a useless citizen. It 
would promote universal courtesy both from those 
who possess power and from those who aspire to it, 
through all gradations and orders ^ No man would 
be so high, that he could not be obliged by his fel- 
low cidzens ; none so low, that he might not oblige. 
It would tend also to effect that alternate succession, 
to serve and to command, so passionately required 
by the Greek "" and Roman ^ philosophers. By this 
wide-spread and graduated representation every man 
would have just so much authority in local or 
imperial concerns, as his integrity, his experience, 
and his talents deserved. 

Compare this with the present representation in 
England. Though the counties have no equality in 
extent or population, all send an equal number of 
representatives to parliament. Yet this, compared 
to other circumstances, is a trifling injustice. The 
county of York does not send more members to 
parliament than the smallest borough. Midhurst 
in like manner elects as many representatives as 
Westminster ; and Old Sarum, consisting of a tree 
and a cottage, sends two representatives to parlia- 
ment ; while Manchester and Birmingham, with all 

^ This is what Tacitus alludes to, in saying, Quae grata sane 
et popularia, si a virtutibus proficerentur. Hist. lib. 2, c. 2!^, 
* Aristoteles de Repub. lib. 6, c. 2 j lib, y, c. 14. 
^ Cicero de Legib. lib. 3. 



562 Of the lest Manner 

their riches, manufactures, and population, do not 
send a single one. But unhappily this is only a part 
of the grievances, that affect this great political 
quesdon. Many boroughs are at the absolute dis- 
posal of individuals, who by a few paltry retainers 
send members to parliament. This is a gross im- 
position, a flagrant insult to a nation pretending to 
liberty — that it's parliament, instead of a citizen 
chosen by freemen, shall receive a vassal nominated 
by servants. In open boroughs as they are called, 
the state of representation is commonly worse j their 
representatives are often suborners of perjury, and 
of^en guilty of bribery and corruption. To such a 
heig'ht has the mutual profligacy and prostitution of 
electors and representatives attained, that few elec- 
tors are free from a capital crime, and few represen- 
tatives from promoting it. 

Afier this account, it is perhaps unnecessary to 
remark the extreme disorder in the right of election 
in. different boroughs. In some, to reside within a 
certain circle^ as at Amersham, confers a title to 
vote. la Appleby this privilege arises from burgage 
tenure. In one it is from paying scot and lot, in 
another from paying scot and lot and not receiving 
alms. In BeverlyVit is obtained by purchase, m 
others on account of having exercised some trade 
after so many years apprenticeship, or by being the 
son of a freeman, and so on. Thus through disor* 



of having the People Represented. 363 

der and confusion, through tumult and drunkenness, 
through bribery and perjury, are appointed members 
to parliament, men who are to represent the majesty 
of the people, to direct their morals by precept and 
example, and conscientiously to guard their honour 
and their rights against all the world. 

Yet we shall be told of British liberty, and Bri- 
tish virtue, Plowden \ for example, writes, " that 
the laws are the emanations of the . sovereignty of 
the whole :*' and again, " that the law is the unani- 
mous villi of the whole comniunity, because our 
laws are framed totius regni assensu, as Fortescue 
observes." What authority has Fortescue, or any 
dogmatist in law, out of a court of law ? Let law- 
yers, when paid for their declamation, prove, that 
an assault was a salutation ; and let the minister 
prove to wondering senates, that they who com- 
pose them are the representatives of the people, and 
that all the people are fully and impartially repre- 
sented in parliam.ent. What said William Pitt\ not 
as minister, but when in opposition ? that not one 
sixth part of the whole commons of this realm is 
suffered to vote for members to parliament : adding, 
that twelve thousand choose a majority of the re- 
presentatives of the whole nation. Here he spoke 
of the voters in boroughs ; not the real nominators ? 

^ Constit. of the U^iit. Kingdoms^ p. 408. 
• Speech on Reform of Parliament. 
VOL. I. 2 A 6 



364 Of the best Manner 

The fact is, that two or three hundred lords and 
chief commoners have such a mastery over boroughs, 
that they return a majority to the house of com^ 
mons\ Are these honourable and right honourable 
lords and commoners the entire population of the 
land ? What can induce any man to say, that the 
house of commons truly represents the people, I 
cannot imagine : is it sycophancy, or insult, or ab^ 
surdity, or insanity ? But there is a show of popu- 
lar election here and there. So m^uch the worse ; 
the pretended election of the consuls by the people 
in the time of Tiberius induced Tacitus ^ to remark 
— that with the speciousness of freedom the descent 
to slavery was more precipitous. 

Were my scheme adopted, it would reform all 
the evib of the present disparity and injustice, ex- 
cept those that w^ould be occasioned by the influence 
of the great landed proprietors. In many tithings 
and hundreds their power would be absolute, and 
in some counties their influence might prevail. 
This evil is referable to the existing laws, founded 
on feudal principles, and particularly to the laws of 
entail and primogeniture. This inconvenience is for 
the present unavoidable, for it v/ould be unjust to 
reduce at once all property by an agrarian distribU'^ 

^ Resolutions entered into at the Thatched House. 
? Annal. Jib. 1, c. 8. _ ' 



of having the People Represented, 365 

tion ; and it would be impolitic, were it not unjust. 
It is better for society, that it should be gradually- 
corrected. This I would have effected by a law 
relative to the inheritance of property, of which I 
shall speak in the second part of this work. By 
this law territorial possessions would be equally di- 
vided among all the children of the deceased. Thus 
great properties would immediately begin to be di- 
minished, which would gradually influence the 
whole by the death of every proprietor, and the 
succession of every generation, till at last liberty 
and property would be the common inheritance of 
every inhabitant of the state. 

My scheme would prevent perjury and imposition. 
All men of the tithing are neighbours^, therefore no 
one could pretend to vote, who was not privileged. 
In like manner the tithing men could not be bribed. 
Who would bribe them ? and for what purpose ? 
Not the decurion, who is in the same situation as 
themselves, and whose office is not attended with 
any emolument. Bribery is still more impracticable^ 

* There is a law in England, which obliges a voter, on being 
required, to swear that he has received nothing, and that he 
expects nothing for his vote. But why should not the law af- 
fect the candidate ? This is precisely as if there were a law 
against accessories, but none against principals in the crime. 
Cato proposed a law, that candidates should declare on what 
terms, and by what means, they were elected. Plutarch, Cato. 



366 Best Manner of Representation^ 

by the candidates for superiour offices. Why should 
those who ofFer themselves to be centurions endea- 
vour to bribe the decurions ? and durst a candidate 
for a county attempt to bribe the chief men of cen- 
turies delegated to that dignity in consequence either 
of their fortune or of their character ? 

It would prevent the great disparity between the 
number of electors in different towns and counties. 
It's principle is equality, and provision might be 
made, that there never could arise an extraordinary 
disproportion in either the superiour or subordinate 
divisions of the commonwealth. If a tithing in- 
creased twofold, it might be formed into two tith- 
ings; if a hundred doubled it's compIemt?nt of 
tithings, it might form two hundreds ; and if the 
people of a county increased one third beyond it's 
original number, it might send three members, if 
it doubled it's population, it might be divided into 
two counties, and depute four members to parlia- 
ment. In like manner, if any of the various tithings, 
hundreds, or counties declined one half, it might 
be. attached to any adjoining tithing, hundred, or 
county, which had also declined ; or it might be 
recruited from any of those in it's vicinity, which 
had exceeded it's proportion : so that no great per- 
manent inequality could exist among either the su- 
preme or minor divisions of this constitutional ar-^ 
rangements. 



Who should enjoy the Elective Franchise. S67 

This scheme is simple, and concise in It's opera- 
tion, yet so elaborate and controlled in it's effects, 
that neither hypocrisy nor prejudice can invent a 
sophism, or a suspicion, which should tend to debar 
any description of it's citizens from erijoying all 
those political privileges, which in other constitutions 
some exclusively possess to the disgrace of the laws, 
and to the injury of all the people. 

WANT OF PROPERTY SHOULD NOT PREVENT 
ANY ONE FROM ENJOYING THE ELECTIVE 

FRANCHISE. 

It may be asked. Is there then to be no limitation 
to the enjoyment of the elective franchise ? Permit 
me first to notice some circumstances, which should 
not interrupt the exercise of that right. Property, 
or contribution, or income, I find required in most 
nations, to entitle men to have a voice in the com- 
monwealth. In Poland an acre of land authorized 
a person to vote in the provincial diets, where the 
nuncios or deputies were chosen^ In Pennsylvania', 
to have paid the public taxes one year, an^ in the 
late French constitution to have paid about two shil- 
lings and sixpence, entitled the contributor to a 

• Connor's Hist, of Poland, vol. 2, p. 5. Gotzliski's Ac- 
comp. Senator, Preface, p. 4. 

^ Constitut. of Pennsylvania, c. 2, s. 6. 



S6B Want of Property should not prevent any one 

vote. In Great Britain, though universal suffrage 
was the custom in the reign of Henry the Sixth ^^ 
it has since been limited to persons possessing under 
certain circumstances forty shillings annual revenue* 
It is useless to speak of this innovation,, as the 
whole system is so deranged. But I cannot avoid 
observing a very capricious violation of equity con- 
nected with it. A person holding a lease barely 
worth forty shillings a year on the life of a dying 
man shall have a vote, while another holding a lease 
for many hundred years of many thousand pounds 
shall have none. Because, says Blackstone '', such 
leases were not in use at the making of the statutes, 
which settled the requisites of the electors, and copy- 
holders were little better than villains. The evil 
does not rest here. In Scotland no leasehold gives 
a vote for a member to parliament, which, says 
Smith % renders the yeomanry less respectable to 
their landlords than the same description of people in 
England. Consider this system singly as relating 
to England, or in it's complex form as embracing 
different provinces, and the most pernicious incon- 
gruities are obvious. 

» Selden's Table Talk. 

* Comr-ient. vol. 1, p. 174. . , 

3 Wealth of Nations, vol. 2, p. 98. 



from enjoying the Elective Franchise, 569 

My scheme does not, on account of property, 
give or withhold the right of suffrage. Should it 
be said, that he who has no substance has no right 
to vote on questions of public contribution, or pub- 
lic expenditure ; I answer, that our first considera- 
tion is not to vote taxes, but to elect persons. But 
suppose, that this was not the primary object, and 
that our attention was occupied by the qualifications 
of legislators ; I admit, that in England their chief 
business regards the ways and means to supply the 
prodigality of government. But this can never 
happen in a well organized economical state. Yet 
still adding another supposition, and considering, 
that not to control but to contribute must be their 
chief employment, Why should one of the smallest 
property, or of no property, be excluded ? I speak 
not of beggars, for, as Plato said on a similar oc- 
casion, our commonwealth admits not of such out- 
casts *. Want of propel ty is an excellent reason 
why individuals should not contribute, but none 
why citizens should be disfranchised. This prin- 
ciple directed the administration of the Athenians. 
Thus they who had only five min^* (fifteen pounds) 

' TL'fuD')(os {ji.7)$n$ ri^iv sy rri iroXsi yiyvsaSoj. De Legib. lib. 
11, p. 978. 

* This is related of Critobulus by Xenophon, De Administ. 
Domest. p. 822, Oper. 

VOL. I, 2 B 



S70 J'Fant of Property should not prevent 

paid nothing, while they who had five hundred minsc 
were obliged to keep horses, to exhibit choruses, 
to preside over the gymnasium, to guard the city, 
and during war to furnish galleys, and to pay a con- 
siderable tribute. This policy might well excite the 
triumph of their orators. The Athenians, says Iso- 
crates \ established by universal consent a form of 
government, not only the most popular, but also 
the most equitable ; for this democracy did not 
rashly confound all distinctions. They ' who framed 
it thought, that the people as sovereign should ap- 
point the magistrates, punish delinquents, and have 
the appellant jurisdiction; that they who had lei- 
sure and property should administer the revenues of 
the state, and that, as they executed their charge 
justly or not, they should receive praise or punish- 
ment. 

Want of property is no proof of wanting in- 
dustry, talents, or virtue : Then why should a de- 
ficiency of fortune annihilate a man's political conse- 
quence ? If an individual be without property, and 
not supported by public or private benefactions, he 
must, unless a robber, be considered industrious. 
But a man of property has no such assurance in his 
favour. A poor man so circumstanced has therefore 
a muclvbetter right to vote, than a rich man on the 

^ Panathenaicus^ p. 403. * Isocrates Areopaglt. p, 248. 



from enjoying the Elective Franchise. 371 

mere account of contributing to the state. A la- 
bourer ' according to his means contributes more by 
paying the duty on soap or salt, than a nobleman 
by paying the taxes on carriages and servants. He 
does more, he not only exceeds the grandee or the 
opulent commoner by his relative but by his posi- 
tive contribution ; and to such extent, that the la- 
bourer is for the most part the whole contributor, 
while the principal proprietors do little more than 
hand over to the state part of what they, luxurious 
and idle, have derived from the thrift and activity of 
the industrious. Then is it not most unjust, to dis- 
franchise this poor industrious man, whose life is 
dedicated to the pleasures of the opulent, and whose 
assiduity and exertions establish the strength and 
adorn the magnificence of the state ? If a poor man 
be prodigal, disgrace him, but do not consider, 
that, because he is poor, he is reprobate. A large 
family, sickness, blights, various casualties oppress 
the best men. Even their virtues may make them 
destitute. Are these to be rejected as outcasts? 
This is the height of cruelty ; it is to treat wretch- 
edness as a crime, and to add the injustice of 
man to the unkindness of nature. Mably % in his 

* Even were property or opulence required, his profession 
is equivalent 3 ars illi sua census. Ovid, Metamorph. lib. 3, 
V. 588. 

^Letters on the United States, letter 2, p. 90. WhenTi- 
2b2 



372 JVant of Family should not prevent 

praise of the constitution of Massachusetts, infers, 
that, by excluding from political rights all those 
who have no property, industiy will be encouraged. 
But I ask, Will any one be induced to accumulate 
wealth in order to vote for a member to this or that 
assembly, who would not otherwise endeavour to 
attain property for the comforts and consequence 
which it imparts ? 

NOR WANT OF FAMILY. 

Analogous to a want of property excluding 
men from the ordinary rights of citizenship is a 
want of family. Thus, when the Afgans* establish- 
ed their constitution they divided themselves into 
four classes : the first the pure class, whose fathers 
and mothers were Afgans ; the second, those whose 
fathers only were Afgans ; the third, whose mothers ; 
and so on. This was truly to distinguish between 
the oppressors, and the less and the more oppressed. 
Conquest, aided by superstition, in the same 
manner originated the casts, which distinguished 
the people in India and Egypt. Whether there 
existed in India three \ or four *, or seven * classes, 

moleon conquered Syracuse, he gave the right of suffrage to 
all. Died. Siculus, lib. l6. 

* Asiatic Researches, vol. 2, p. 72. * Died. vSiculus. 

' Halhed says, that there are four; and a fifth, which is 
formed out of tvi^o. Hindoo Code, p. 102^ 

* Arrian in Indice, c. 11, 12. 



from enjoying the Elective Franchise, 373 

or in Egypt seven ^ or fewer, it is unnecessary to in- 
quire, they were most oppressive to the lower orders, 
for thus the professional thraldom of the father 
descended to his sons *. Nor were the intermediate 
orders, and of course the body of the state, much 
better circumstanced in consequence of this classi- 
fication. If corporations check the free exercise of 
genius and industry, this at best must have detained 
all things in a state of mediocrity ; and hence Plato ^ 
observed, '' that the paintings executed ten thousand 
years ago in Egypt are not older, or better, or 
worse, than those which have been lately finished." 
Such was the stationary depression of Egypt ; while 
the Greeks, without corporate laws or classes, gra- 
dually attained the highest perfection in all the arts. 
When I say, that the Egyptians reached mediocrity, 
they receive credit for more than they deserve ; for 
I am ignorant of any one art, in which they dis- 
played moderate ability. The statue of Antinous ^ 

* Herodotus, lib. 2, c. 164. Diod. Siculus, lib. 2. 

^ Isocrates, in his praise of Busiris, which rivals the false 
encomiums of the Sophists, attributes this classification with 
great triumph to Busiiis. Opera, p, 305. 

* De Legib. lib. 2, p. 789. 

"* What exists of Egyptian statuary is no credit to their taste. 
I must observe, that Diodorus Siculus, who is a great admirer 
of this people, says, that they divided the human body into 
twenty-one parts, in which they differed from the Grecians, 
who determined their proportions by the view. Lib. 1. I re- 



374 No Profession should prevent 

chiselled by their artists, and sent by their chief 
men to Italy, to propitiate a Roman emperor, was 
more av/kward than new levies at their first pa- 
rade. Nor did their other works add more ho- 
nour to their ingenuity. The Pyramids may seem 
to form an excepcion. But what are they more 
than monuments of bad taste, and an oppressed 
people ? for could the people have been employed 
for ages in piling masses on masses of matter, to 
swell an uncouth heap, had not they and their 
masters been doomed to follow without improve- 
ment or alteration the state and profession of their 
fathers ? 

NOR PROFESSIONS. 

Men have also been degraded from the rights of 
citizens on account of their employments. Though 
I do not absolutely controvert the opinion of De- 
mosthenes ', that those of mean professions cannot 



collect, that Albert Durer also drew up a scale of proportions, 
which Bacon incidentally censures. I am far from condemning 
rules in any art, they are the basis of it's science ; but to make 
any number a univefsal rule for dividing the human figure is 
absurd, considering the vast variety of objects and situations 
represented by statuary — as strength and activity, &c. — at rest 
and in action, &c. — minute and colossal, &c.'— on Earth or 
elevated. 
» P. 8, Select. Orat. Oxford. 



from enjoying the Elective Franchise* 375 

have generous souls, or Cicero's ' general censure on 
certain traders and servants (for Neckar surely erred, 
when he affirmed, that all employments are honour- 
able) ; and though I can agree with Socrates *, that 
all those employments, which relax the body and 
weaken the mind, are sordid ; yet, admitting this, 
should even they who exercise such occupations 
be disfranchised^ ? I should rather lessen the induce- 
ments to such debasing situations, than reject from 
society those who followed them. 

I therefore utterly condemn that principle, which 
in Crete, Egypt, and Lacedasmon divided the state 
into warriors and husbandmen, and which Plato 
adopts in his commonwealth ^, By this distinction 

^ De Officiis, lib. 1, p, 372. There was a curious law to 
this eifect among the Magnesians. Plato, de Legib. lib. 11, 

p. 9Q7. 

* Xenophon de Administ. Domest. p. 827, 828. 

^ By the 5th and 6th of William and Mary, and the 11th 
and 12th of William, by the 4th and 6th of Anne, by the 1st 
of George the First, by the 15th of George the Second, and 
by the 22d of George the Third, many regulations are made, 
in order to exclude revenue officers from voting at elections. 
It is said, that they hold their places at pleasure, and therefore 
are under the dominion of government : And how many more 
come under the same rule ? 

^ Plato, de Legib. lib. 7> ?• ^9^> abandons agriculture to 
slaves : and in his Repub. lib. 5, p. 662, he would punish a 
coward, by making him an artisan or a labourer. 



S76 1^0 Profession should prevent 

the idle were raised to dominion, and the laborious 
sunk into servitude. This was however no un- 
common injustice among nations, and it was effec- 
tually the custom of all the Gothic kingdoms, 
which succeeded the em.pire of Rome. 

The opinion of Solomon has been quoted by 
more than Burke, to prove, that the laborious are 
unfit for any political situation. " How," says So* 
lomon, " can he get wisdom, that holdeth the 
plough, and that glorieth in the goad ; that driveth 
oxen, and is occupied in their labours ? &c. So 
every carpenter and work-master, that laboureth 
night and day, &c. They shall not be sought for 
in public counsel, they shall not sit in the judge's 
seat." Had all that passes under Solomon's name 
this character, we should now read, not the wis- 
dom, but the folly of Solomon. We know, that 
these animadversions are false — the petty juries of 
Great Britain and Ireland are often taken from the 
industrious classes of society, and they can declare 
justice and judgment : and in many towns in Swjs- 
serland, among which Coxe specifies Basle, work- 
ing mechanics not only sit in council, but many of 
them are acquainted with classical learning and the 
learned languages. There is no more reason why 
the laborious classes should be ignorant, than that 
the patrician and opulent should be the contrary ; 
if the former have too much to do, the latter have 



from enjoying the Elective Franchise. S77 

too little, and idleness is even more injurious than 
drudgery to the improvement of the mind. 

But the most improper remark in this descant of 
Solomon is, that the labourer of the land must be 
destitute of wisdom. He that follows him in this 
observation must have made a small advance in phi- 
losophy, and history must have been shut to his ob- 
servation. Rome drew her consuls and dictators 
from the plough. Solomon is not however peculiar 
in his mistake : Plutarch ' says, that they who work 
in the fields are unfit to direct a commonwealth ; 
and Aristotle % that it is requisite the citizens of a 
state be not only free in their persons, but inde- 
pendent of labour for their support. 

Their errour arose from the corrupt constitutions, 
which they saw in Greece and in other countries. 
In these a labourer and a slave were synonymous. 
Hence they concluded against the competency of 
the laborious, when the cause of. man's degradation 
was not labour, but slavery. The same errour de- 
scended to after-ages ; for the tiller of the earth 
some time ago in Europe was also the most despised 
of men ; and so long did this prejudice continue, 
and so intimately did it affect our habits and lan- 

* In Pompeio, p. 45g. 

* OuJ' £\sv^£pot IJ.OVOV aAA' oaroi rcuv epyi^^jv ei<ny a^ftaevw 
rouy uvdyKaiivy, De Repub. lib. 3, c. 5. 



378 Disquisition on Slavery. 

guage, that loiaves and villains, terms denoting the 
labourers of the land during the feudal tyranny, are 
now used as most opprobrious appellations. 

DISQUISITION ON SLAVERY. 

It appears, that slavery originated vi^ith conquest. 
Some nations prosecuted war merely to make cap- 
tives, as the Mahometan Tartars ', whose sole ob- 
ject in their hostile excursions is to take prisoners, 
and ' to sell or to enslave them. The wars also of 
the ancient Thracians "" were frequently undertaken 
for the profits, which their prisoners afforded as an 
article of commerce. Thrace was to the ancients 
in this respect what the coast of Africa is to the 
modern world : but the Thracians never warred so 
violently and to the same extent as the Negroes fight 
against each other ; the slave merchants and colo- 
nists of America and the West Indies, by affording 
a better market, have made war in different parts of 
Africa the most profitable and the only commerce, 
which it's sanguinary inhabitants pursue. What 
Sparman ' relates of a practice of the colonists at 
the Cape of Good Hope deserves to be mentioned 

1 Geneal. Hist. Tart. vol. 2, p. 412. 

^Antiphon de Herod. Caede, p. 131, Orat. Vet. They 
were also accustomed to lie along their coasts, and enslavQ 
those who were wrecked. Diod. Sicul. lib. 14. 

' Travels, vol. 2, p. 169. 



Disqiiisllion on Slavery, 379 

here, at least for the horrour which It excites ; he 
says, that they are accustomed to go abroad and 
hunt the Bosjesmen in order to enslave them. This 
is conquest, though not conquest by war ; and 
more execrable, as the conqueror does not risk his 
own safety in pursuit of his vile purpose. 

That slavery principally arose from conquest is 
proved by various circumstances. Herodotus ^ says 
expressly, that, before the Pelasgians were expelled 
from Attica, slavery was unknown in Greece. By 
conquest the Lacedemonians'' introduced slavery into 
the Peloponnesus. They w^re foreigners^, and 
they seized by arms that part of Greece denomi- 
nated after them. That their slaves were the vic- 
tims of conquest there is no doubt, it is only ques- 
tionable who were their first slaves. Thucydides * 
says the Helotes were the posterity of the Messeni- 
ans formerly enslaved. Pausanias with the gene- 
rality of writers affirms, that the first slaves of the 
Lacedaemonians were prisoners of war taken at 
Helos ; but he says also, that Helotes signified both 
natives of Helos and captives of war, the Greek 
words having a corresponding sound. Were there 
no such inducements either as the consonancy of 

' Lib. 6, c. 137. * Nat. Hist. lib. 7, c. 58.. 

^ Isocrates, Archidamus, p. 213, and p. 231. 
* Lib. 1, p. 6Q. 



380 Disquisition on Slavery, 

the words, or the Innuendo by Pausanias ', I would 
venture to say, that the inhabitants of Messene or 
Helos, if it be admitted that the Lacedemonians 
conquered the country which they possessed in the 
Peloponnesus^ were not the first slaves of the La- 
cedaemonians : and are we not informed by Iso- 
crates ', that, when the progenitors of the Lacedae- 
monians seized their portion of the Peloponnesus, 
they expelled the plebeians from their society, and 
reduced them by their treatment to a state not less 
miserable than their slaves? They were in fact 
equally slaves as the Helotes, or at most they dif- 
fered from them only as villains regardant from 
villains in gross. 

That slavery originated with war and conquest^ 
the curse and scourge of mankind, is probable from 
other circumstances. Tooke ^ says in his History 
of Russia, that " the knaves and serfs were free 
people, and served by contract ; the only slaves 
were captives and their children." I should sup- 
pose also, that the distinction mentioned by Parke ^ 
had the same origin. The Negroes, says this tra- 

' Lib. 3, c. 20. ^ Areopagit. p. 243. ^ 

' Vol. 1, p. 350. 

* Travels^ c. 22. This was not unlike a law in Judea. '' If 
thy brother, that dwelleth by thee, be waxen poor, and be 
sold unto thee, thou shalt not compel him to serve as a bond, 
servant, but as a hired servant, &c." Levit. ch. 25. 
2 



^Disquisition on Slavery, 381 

veller, have tv/o sorts of slaves ; slaves of the 
household, who are not to be disposed of except 
in great extremities ; and slaves purchased, or taken 
in war, who are at the mercy of the master. If 
we consider the reasons, though insufficient, for 
justifying this degraded state by some authors, my 
opinion of the commencement of slavery is still 
further confirmed. Hornius and Locke' assert, 
that slavery depends on the right of conquerors over 
their captives ; and Puffendorf ^ vindicates it by the 
law of nations. 

Reasons of a different description also vindicate 
my position^ that the principal cause of slavery was 
conquest. It appears ^, that, after slavery became 
discredited in Europe, the custom was protracted 
by the prisoners, which the events of war doomed 
to that wretched situation. It is also ascertained, 
that the conquests of Rome filled Italy with slaves*; 
and that, when Rome ceased to conquer, she ceased 
to import slaves into Italy. — Slavery and conquest 

*DeCivitate, lib. 1, c. 3. '^Slavery is nothing else but a 
state of war, continued between a lawful conqueror and a cap- 
tive." Locke on Government, b. 2, c. 4, s. 24. 

® Law of Nature and Nations, lib. 6, c. 3, s. 4 and 3. 

' Henry's Hist, of England, b. 5, c. 3, s. 1 

* Gracchus, on passing through Tuscany, found the whole 
country cultivated by slaves j no freeman was seen tilling the 
land. Plutarch, T. Gracchus. 



382 Disquisition on Slavery, ^ 

are associated so intimately, that a state not highly 
civilized^ yet wanting slaves, induces a belief, either 
that it was never subdued ; and this is the reason 
assigned by Vertot, why vassalage was unknown 
in Sweden ; or that it's inhabitants were inoffensive, 
and this we are told is the disposition of the Tar- 
tars not Mahometans, who live in peace, and have 
no slaves. Perhaps also from the same pacific un- 
molested state w^e may account for Arrian's ' relation 
concerning the Indians, that they are neither slaves, 
nor admit slaves among them. 

Beside conquest, which subjected multitudes to 
slavery, minor causes in particular nations have oc- 
casionally condemned individuals to this state. Per- 
sons have been thus miserably degraded on account 
of their crimes, and on some convictions it has been 
conferred as a merciful substitute for capital punish- 
ment. The slaves of the Utopians, says More% 
are malefactors, or those whom the merchants find 
condemned to die in foreign parts, whom they re- 
deem at a small price. But to pass from fable to 
facts, Symes ^ relates, that the Pagwaat are slaves, 
whose lives were forfeited, but who preferred slavery 
to death. Sometimes slavery was imposed on the 

^Inlndice, c. 10. DIod. Siculus, lib. 2, says, that the 
philosophers of India directed the people to use no one as a 
slave, and to consider all as equal. 

• Utopia, p. 13S. ' Embassy to Ava, p. 186. 

3 



Disquisition on. Slavery, 38S 

culprit, in order that his service might indemnify the 
injured. Thus among the Jews ', if a robber could 
not make restitution, he was sold, that his price 
might afford some compensation to the person he 
had defrauded. The following law explains both 
the foregoing instances. Among the ancient Rus- 
sians ""5 if a thief were taken a second time in the 
fact, it was ordained, that he should be punished 
with death ; and not delivered to the accuser, to 
repay him by his labour the value of the goods, 
which he had stolen. To the same effect is the ro- 
mantic assertion of Justin^, that Saturn preserved 
such exact justice among the aborigines of Italy, 
that no one was slave or servant. 

Insolvency has also been a pregnant cause of oc- 
casional slavery. At Athens there was a law to this 
effect of a peculiar kind, embracing in it's view 
both debt and conquest. By it, if a person ran- 
somed another, who did not repay him in a certain 
time what he had advanced for his liberation, he 
might reduce the defaulter to captivity \ Debt and 
slavery were incurred by the ancient Germans, who 
often risked their fortune and freedom on the cast 

^ Exodus, c. 22, ver. 2. 

* Tool^e's Hist, of Russia, vol. 1, p. 339, 

* Lib. 43, c. 1. 

* Demosth. adv. Nicest, p. 1105. Plutarch mentions debtors 
being made slaves, and others being sold to foreigners. Solcn. 



384; Disquisition on Slavery^ 

of a die. Debt and slavery have likewise been oc- 
casioned by mere want. Parke ' considers, that 
this was a considerable cause of slavery in the parts 
of Africa which he visited, as it obliged many of 
their inhabitants to sell either themselves or their 
children for subsistence. Such also is the case in 
China, excepting that in Africa it would appear, 
that the slaves were absolutely sold, and that in 
China there was a clause of redemption ^, though 
the conditions of release could seldom be per- 
formed'. In Gaul and Britain all these causes, con- 
quests, crimes, want % insolvency *, enslaved num- 
bers ; and in the beginning of the feudal times 
many individuals were terrified into a state nearly as 
discreditable as actual slavery, though it had a less 
odious appellation. As now in the East, when in- 
dependent states are forced to submit to the domi- 
nion of England, it is not said, that they are sub- 
jected, but that they have exchanged their power 
for protecdon. 

Other causes have been assigned to authorize 
slavery among the ancients. To be a barbarian, 

^ Travels, c. 22. St. Basil Us^i IlA£oy£f . describes the con- 
test of a poor man with himself, on being obliged either to let 
his child starve, or to sell him. 

* Lettres Edif. &c., t. 19, p. 145. 
« Du Halde's Hist. vol. 2, p. I27. 

* Gaesar de Bello Gall. lib. 6, c. 13. 

* Henry's Hist. b. 2, c. 3, s. 3. 



Disquisition on Slavery, 38^ 

chat is to be a foreigner, justified Greeks and Ro- 
mans in enslaving .the citizens of all other states. 
Among the moderns, religion, which is so miserably 
intermingled with eveiy concern of laws and policy, 
has sometimes been made a partial and sometimes 
the sole cause for enslaving natives and foreigners. 
Lewis the Thirteenth, says Montesquieu^, found 
some difficulty in admitting the Negroes of the colo- 
nies to be reduced to slavery; but when he was in- 
formed, that it was the most effectual method to 
convert them, he acquiesced. 

Of all people ancient or modern none have been 
so oppressed as the Negroes. It has been affirmed, 
though I know not whether it be the orthodox belief 
of any nadon, that their colour is their crirue > for 
some curious investigators into ghostly matters have 
suggested, that blackness was the mark which God 
stamped on the first homicide, and that the Negroes 
are his descendants. Tl:e liint was sufficient not 
only to doom them to slavery, but to excite among 
the missionary Quixotes of the day a croisade for 
their extermination. There is also another capital 
reason for enslaving the Negroes. Philosophers and 
politicians have absolutely asserted, that they are an 
inferior race. This presumption has rendered 

* L'Esprit des Loix, liv. 15, c. 4. Whether or not for the 
curse of Canaan on tfiem, for a servant of servants have ihey 
been to their brethren. Gen, ch. 9. 
VOL. I. 2 C 



3S:6 Disquisition on Slavery*, 

many lukewarm in their interests, and in the inter- 
ests of humanity. Jefferson ^ has laboured to prove, 
in., his Notes on Virginia,, that the blacks are inferior 
ta the whites in mind and body ; and Hume " de^ 
nies, that there ever existed nationally or individu- 
ally any one of that class eminent for action or 
speculation. 

"We have heard a great deal of different races of 
men, and some have prosecuted this opinion in 
order to discredit the Jewish cosmogony, which 
makes one pair the universal progenitors of man- 
kind. It is difficult to say, whether the grounds 
of the fable or the innuendoes of it's antagonists be 
more vain. Some have divided men into two races, 
others into more. It is also said, that, when Ame- 
rica was discovered, five races of men were distin- 
guishable : those in Peru resembled the Malays ; 
the Eskimoes and other nations in Labrador resem- 
bled the Greenlanders ; those at Nootka resembled 
the Kampschadales ; the Brasilians resembled the 
African Negroes; while the red men, the majority 
pf the population of America, had no likeness to 
any other nation or description of men hitherto dis- 
covered : and conformably to the last observation 
Heriot^ observes, that the complexion of the Ame- 
ricans cannot be attributed to chmate or to food, as 

^ From p. 204. to 213. * Essays, vol. 1, Note M- 

^ Travels, p. 2/2. 



Disqidsitibn on Slavery^ 387 

in ho part of this extensive region has the colour of 
Europeans in many generations undergone any con- 
siderable change. This may be true, though Vol- 
ney ^ in his Travels in America favours a contrary 
opinion, attributing the copper colour of the Ameri- 
cans to their climate \ and he supports this declara- 
tion by noticing the change effected in the com- 
plexion of foreigners by their residence in parts of 
the new worlds 

I freely exculpate those, who have argued in fa- 
vour of different races among men, from any design 
to enslave men of one shade to those of another \ 
though certainly this opinion advanced by ingenious 
writers, and supported by such names as JefFersoU 
and Hume, has made the fate of the Negroes, less 
interesting, and rendered their cause almost foreign 
to our affections j a circumstance they olight to have 
foreseen. Happily however their position is by no 
means corroborated by facts. I deny that it i^ 
proved, that the Negroes are inferior to the whiter 
individually or nationally. The individuals with 
whom we are acquainted are either slaves, or have 
been enslaved. Do they appear before us, in such 
circumstances, competent witnesses to their owij 
character ? Were all Negroes inferior to whites 
who are free, to conclude thence the black man's 

* Travels in America, 
2 C 2 



588 Disquisition on Slavery, 

natural Inferiority Wuld be unjust. But the reverse 
is ascertained : Burke ^ says, in the Bermudas they 
make as good sailors as the whites^ and in St. Do- 
mingo they have distinguished themselves by their 
bravery and perseverance in opposing the arms of 
France. Regard them nationally, the Negroes who 
supply the Europeans with slaves are certainly in a 
degraded state : but history relates, that many coun- 
tries as extensive as Negroland have remained in 
equal barbarism, without the assistance of slave- 
merchants, for a period equally long. If we turn 
however from the slave coast, which seems unpro- 
pitious in an eminent degree to improvement, and 
regard more favourable situations, we shall think 
more humanely of this scandalized people. Hor- 
neman^ speaks with esteem of the intelligence, in- 
dustry, improvements, and temper of the Houssa, 
who, he says, are certainly Negroes 5 adding, ^' we 
have very unjust ideas of this people, not only with 
respect to their cultivation and natural abilities, but 



* European Settlements,, &c. part y, c, 2. Tovvnsend says, 
that the Negro slaves in Spanish America are coraparativelj 
well treated J that most of the mechanics, tradesmen, and ar- 
tificers, are Negroes, who by their industry and frugality have 
obtained their freedom j and that two of the best battalions at 
the Havannah are composed of Blacks^ vol. 2, p. 132. 

^ Travels in Africa^ p. 1 12. 



Disquisition on Slavery » S89 

also of their strength and the extent of their pos- 



sessions." 



If we ascend to ancient times, we shall have nu- 
merous reasons to justify whatever favourable senti- 
ments we may entertain of the natural qualifications 
of Negroes. Herodotus ^ says, that he believes the 
Colchians are descended from the Egyptian troops 
of Sesostris, because they are black, and have curled 
hair. This implies, that the ancient Egyptians were 
Negroes. The opinion of Herodotus has been con- 
tested ; and it has been said, that he must have been 
mistaken, as the Colchians are now the fairest and 
best proportioned of the human race. I perceive 
no force in this objection. In five generations any 
peculiarity of colour or features is obliterated. 
Why should we not suppose, that the Colchians of 
Egyptian descent were conquered by others, as they 
had themselves conquered it's former inhabitants, 
and that thus the Negro character ended by the 
same means as introduced it ? Let me also observe, 

VLib. 2j c. 104. Diodoms Sic^ lib. 1, says, that some 
Egyptians were left near the Palus Maeotis in the expedition of 
Sesostris, and that from these the Colchians are descended. 
To corroborate the assertion, he says, that they circumcise the 
males, a general custom among all the colonists from Eg)'pt. 
That the Colchians were often conquered, there is no doubt : 
the remains of the ten thousand, on their retreat, conquered 
them. Diod. lib. 14. 



S§0 Disquisition on Slaverth 

that Pallas ^ frequently mentions the Abyssinian 
tribes, that dwell on the extent of Caucasus : And 
does not this favour the opinion, that the Egyptians 
possessed this country, Abyssinia being in effect a^ 
province of Egypt ? 

There are still other proofs of the power of the 
Negroes in ancient times. Wilford" says. It cannot 
be doubted, but that a race of Negroes had power 
and preeminence in India, as very ancient statues of 
the Indian gods have crisped hair, and the features 
of Negroes. The Brahmins endeavour to do away 
the suspicion, w^hich the crisped hair excites, by 
saying, that it is tv/isted in braids ; but this, says 
Wilford, does not account for the thick lips and 
flat noses of these figures. As I have subjoined 
accounts by Pallas to the relation of Herodotus, let 
me also corroborate the opinion of Wilford by that 
of Scott, the translator of Ferishta's History of 
Dekkan". Scott speaks to the following effect : The 



' Travels, vol. 1. ^ Asiatic Researches, vol. 3, p. 355. 

^ Vol. li p. 110. We might reconcile the seeming impro- 
priety of the narration of Herodotus, or rather we might give 
it some credit, by supposing that many of the Egyptian troops 
were Negroes, who might in consequence have attained domi- 
nion in Egypt — as the Janisaries in Turkey, &c. They might 
have attained it also, as their countrymen did in India, I hav6 
mentioned the manner of their introduction into the East. 
Even at the present time there is a numerous supply of Negroes 



Disquiskion on Slaver ij, 591 

Abyssinians appear from this history to have had 
great power in Dekkan. These seem to have come 
by Arabian merchants, who brought them, and 
sold them through India to the sultans and chiefs, 
who employed them in high offices, and those again 
purchased their countrymen who were offered as 
slaves ; by which means colonies of them were 
estabhshed in many parts of Hindostan. Such are 
the circumstances, which I at present recollect in fa- 
vour of the abilities and consequence of the Negroes. 
But, suppose the Negroes naturally impotent 'and 
imbecile, should this consign them to slavery ? I 
have apprehended, that simplicity should excite ten- 
derness in the humane, and that feebleness had a 
claim of assistance from the strong : but I have not 
heard why a weakly frame and an imperfect under- 
standing are criminal, and why they should be pu- 
nished by perpetual slavery, the greatest of all 
punishments. 

brought into Egypt. Browne, in his Travels, p. 358, 2(1 edit., 
says, that the inhabitants of Darfur are chiefly Negroes, many 
of whom reside there for the purposes of trade, which consists 
fbr the most part of slaves. These are collected from the sur- 
tounding countries, but principally from those of the south 5 
and they are sent in caravans of one thousand to Cairo. They 
fall into this state by war, or as forfeitures to the laws. It is 
easy to account for their becoming favourites at despotical 
courts, and thence becoming by degrees the satellites and mini- 
Aters of the monarch. 



592 Disquisition on Slavery. . 

It is most afflicting, that freedom has been so 
partially enjoyed by mankind ; and it is distressing 
in the extreme, that liberty has been so seldom 
granted by others who were free themselves, and 
who had the power of communicating this chief 
good. " The original equality of our government," 
says Plato ', " was adopted from the equality of our- 
race ; all our fellow-citizens are brethren of the 
same parents, therefore we do not regard each other 
as slaves and masters ; as our descent was the same 
our laws are equal; we give precedence to each 
other only according to superior virtue and wisdom." 
This is a splendid panegyric on the liberty and 
equality enjoyed by all the Athenian citizens. But 
why should liberty be circumscribed to men of this 
or that descent ? Why did the free Athenians hold 
multitudes in the opprobrious state of slavery ? 
Plato attributes the general freedom enjoyed by the 
Athenians to their affinity; while the Jews, with the 
dogma in their tongues that all were the children of 
the same parents, had many slaves, and they treated 
their Gentile slaves with unexampled cruelty, re- 
quiring from them the hardest labour, Vv^hile they 
denied them the necessaries of life". Nor can I 

* Menexenus, p. 51 9. Plato's fourth axiom of government 
is, that slaves should be governed, and that masters should go« 
vern. Lib. 3, p. 812. Aristotle has said as much. 

2 Selden de Jure N. & G. lib. 6, c. 8. 



jDisguisidon on Slavery, S93 

abstain from reprobating the Americans ; they, v/ho 
fled from Europe in search of freedomj held mul- 
titudes of their fellow-men in bondage, a thousand 
times more abject, than that which they themselves 
for ever abandoned their country sooner than endure. 

How dare either an Athenian or American, who 
countenances the practice and traffic of slavery, utter 
the name of the nobler virtues, or claim kindred 
with humanity ? Wherever slavery exists, it corrupts 
all concerned in it. The character of the Roman 
slave-dealers suits this profession in all times and 
nations. Plautus ^ introduces one of them saying, 
^^ I said it, and now unsay it ; nature never gave 
me speech to undo myself." Terence^ still more 
explicitly displays their character : " I am a slave- 
dealer^ I admit, the destruction of young men, a 
perjurer, and a plague.'^ 

But it is not the mere traders in this commerce, 
that slavery corrupts j wherever it exists, it's evils 
are universal. Slavery corrupts upwards and down- 
wards ; it makes the master ferocious, and degrades 
the servant beneath the brute. Edwards ^ remarks, 
that it renders even the natives of the Gold Coast 
cowardly, distrustful, and liars. Wherever tole- 
rated it depraves body, mind, and affections 5 it 

* Curcul. act 5j s. 3, v. 27. 

« Adelphi, act 2, s. 1, v. 34. 

* History of the West Indies^ b, 4, c. 3. 



S94 Disquisition on Slavery^ 

depraves even the fine arts : For what but slavery 
could have moved the Grecians to introduce the 
Caryatides ' in architecture, and thus to sin against 
every sentiment of manliness and civilization ? 

That slavery contaminates and degrades both high 
and low, there is little doubt ; but the weight is of 
course most severely felt by the enslaved, who are- 
the lowest order in this accumulated oppression. 
They are abused for the sake of disgracing them. 
The barbarous nations, who ova-ran the provinces 
fef the Roman empire, attached a dignity to long 
hair ; slaves were of course obliged to shave their 
heads % They are even ill-treated to the injury of 
their masters' service, ill-fed, ill-clothed, worked ^ 
excessively, and beaten like malefactors, either be- 
cause nature has denied them superhuman powers, 
or because their masters by their cruelty haVe ex- 
hausted those principles of energy and action, which 
nature had infused into their frame. It is said the 
slave will not work with spirit. Can the human 
body be for ever strained, yet preserve it's elasticity? 
Because they labour without any passionate exer- 

' As the Messenians, says Pausanlas, lib. 4, c. iQ, were ap- 
proaching Sparta, they seized some Caryatides. 

^ Potgiess. lib. 3, c. 4. Fashions will change even among 
slaves. The hair was a slavish badge : ay^poi. ito^ccdr) r^iyjx. 

^ This became a proverb in Greece : w (^%oAij ^vXqi^, 
^ristotle^ De Repab. lib. 7, c. 15. 



Disquisition on Slavery, S9S 

don, they are pronounced to be by nature of in,- 
superable indolence. Who is ardent in his la- 
bours, that derives no advantage from his toil ? 
African slaves^ European vassals, the tawny savage, 
ail are indolent, who want motives of action. To 
suppose that men should proceed vigorously in any 
situation without motives, is as absurd as to build 
an hypothesis on the self-communicated motion of 
brute matter. What inducements have Negroes, or 
any absolute slaves, to exert themselves ? None. 
is it therefore wonderful, that they should in their 
proceedings manifest the common disposition of 
mankind ? When the Negroes have inducements, 
their conduct displays their kindred with humanity. 
The Negroes in the Spanish settlements of South 
America, and in the Portuguese settlements of the 
Brazils, are industiious, because, after a certain 
profit to their masters of the gold extracted by them 
from the mines in Popayan and Choco, and of the 
pearls raised by them in the fisheries at Panama, &c., 
they enjoy some requital for their labours : and 
they are thrifty, because by accumulating their gains 
they have hopes of redeeming themselves, and 
rising from slavery to freedom. 

Slaves transported from Africa cannot be labo- 
rious. They have not been habituated to labour, 
nor have they any acquaintance whatever with the 
labours of the plantation. But, if they had^ why 



396 Disquisition on Slavery, 

should they toil ? A slave, generally speaking, works 
almost wholly for another, — for one whom he must 
abhor, as he abhors misery. In this case the la- 
bourer's heart does not second his hand, his arm is 
palsied; were he even disposed to exert himself, 
his efforts would be vain. Should we then wonder, 
that they are what they are ? It is rather surprising, 
that they are not less rational, and less animated. 
Do v/e not find, that many beasts in a domestic 
state refuse to propagate their kind, either emascu- 
lated by confinement, or scorning to enjoy even 
their strongest appetites in their state of degradation? 
Why should the Negro work ? He has no moral 
motive, no physical inducement except to prolong 
life. I wonder that he deigns to live ; yet let us 
withhold our surprise, for we are told, that it is dif- 
ficult to restrain them on their passage from leaping 
overboard, thus to escape slavery by suicide : and. 
Dr. Pinckard ' speaks of Negro funerals in the West 
Indies, at which the most tumultuous joy is ex- 
pressed ; at which the slaves follow their deceased 
countryman dancing and singing, felicitating him 
that he is redeemed from his master, and exulting 
in the hope, that death soon will relieve them from 
their afflictions. 

* West Indies, vol. 3, p. 67. Strabo' says, that the Corsi- 
cans, on being seized by the Romans, either cominiitted siiicidcj 
or lived in apathy. Lib. 5, p. 224. 



Disquisition on Slavery, $97 

*.- Should not slaves rejoice, that the end of their 
sufferings is brought to their remembrance by the 
death of their companions ? It is not that they are 
stigmatized and scourged, that they are worse fed 
than the cattle of the farm with which by the laws 
of Ina ' they are classed, and more severely goaded 
than the merest beasts of burden. In the middle 
ages, slaves in Europe were not admitted to give 
evidence in a court of justice against a freeman": and 
in the European colonies not long ago a master 
might kill a Negro with impunity, because a Negro 
was not evidence against a white ^ ! and Negroes 
and their descendants still labour under the most 
• shocking incapacities*. In Greece it was not so, nor 
at Rome, though they might and were frequently 
murdered by their masters without inquiry or cen- 
sure, and though they could not testify against them 
on any account, even if their masters' offence was 
against the state itself. The following exception 

* C. y, Inse Leg. ^ Du Cange, vox Servus. 
3 Encyclop, Method, t. 4, p. 297. 

* Renny, in his History of Jamaica, says that mulattoes, 
quadroons, and mustees, are not evidence against a white, or 
against people of colour. Mulattoes cannot serve in any 
office of public trust so low as constable 3 and all means are 
taken to prevent them from acquiring any thing by testamen- 
tary bequests. Thus we find, that colour is orthodox in Ja- 
maica as protestantism is in Ireland ; and to be yellow in one is 
the same crime as to be catholic in the other. 



398 I>hquisiiion on Slavery). 

will prove this more clearly than any direct evidence 
Sulpicius ' was voted a public enemy : the informa^ 
tion of his slave brought him within the power of 
the law ; on this the consuls had the sl^ve liberated, 
as a reward for his public service, and then cast 
headlong from the Tarpeian rock for treachery t© 
his master. 

There is no end to the horrours and crimes pro^ 
moted by slavery. In Europe slaves were not al- 
lowed to marry, but they might cohabit, for this 
depravity was beneficial to their masters'^ ; and Ne- 
gresses in some islands and on the Spanish main 
were encouraged to prostitute themselves, provided 
that they shared their gains with their mistresses ^ 1 
fear that a nameless vice originated also in slavery* 
Scipio Ammirato* says, that the Turks, though 
they abhor this oiFence in general, disregard it when 
committed with prisoners of war, who, as in the 
beginning of this disquisition I have shown, were 
the chief and first victims of slavery. 

It may be inquired how governments could admit 
the continuance of slavery, when it occasioned so 
many vices and crimes in every department of the 
state. But it will seem to scorn the possibility of 
any answer, when it is r^ijlated, that slavery not only 

* Oroslus, lib. 6, c. \S. * Potgiess. lib. 2, c, 2, s. I. 

« Wimpfiin, letter 30. * Di^cor^i;, lib. 5, c. 5. 

2 



Disquisition on Slavery. 399 

blasted those just and virtuous sentirxients, which 
give man preeminence above his fellows, but that it- 
threatened the very existence of many states, which 
admitted the practice. Witness the Lacedsemonian. 
Thucydides ', Plato % Aristotle ^ relate, that Sparta 
was frequently distressed by the insurrections of it's 
slaves. These were so miserably oppressed, that, 
though in cases of great danger to their masters, 
which I have noticed, they magnanimously silenced 
their resentments, the history of Sparta is replete 
with relations of their revolts, insurrections^ deser- 
tions, &c. If an earthquake happened, they re- 
volted ^ ; if an inundation, they revolted ^ ; and on. 
the defeat at Leuctra ^, they abandoned Sparta, as 
twenty thousand Athenian slaves, in a similar mis- 
fortune, deserted from Athens to the enemy^ Nor 
should we here forget the great conspiracy mentioned 
by Xenophon % which was not less dangerous to 
the Spartan state, than the Servile war, or war of 
the slaves, to the Romans. 

» Lib. 1, p. 13. * De Legib. lib. 6, p. 872. 

' De Repnb. lib. 2, c 0. ** Thucydides, lib. 1, p. tio., 

' Pausanias, lib. 4, c. 24. 

*> Xenophon, Hist. Graec. lib. /, p. 624. 

' Thucydides, lib. 7, p. 50/. This happened when the La- 
cedaemonians had fortified Decelea, 

' Hist. Graec. p. 494. The slaves of the Argian republic ac- 
tually seized the government. Herodotus, lib. (3, c. 83. 



400 Disquisition on Slavery, 

The slaves of Sparta took every opportunity to 
abscond ^, and they pillaged their masters night and 
day \ So wretched were both slaves and masters ; 
so oppressive the one and so dangerous the other^ 
that Brasidas^ during the Peloponnesian war, made 
his way to Perdiccas through Thrace, in order that 
by this route the slaves who accompanied him might 
be destroyed, as their presence at home threatened 
innovation and dangers to the stated Then why did 
they not abolish this odious and miserable distinction 
of freemen and slaves, which aggravated every af- 
fliction, v/hich domestically, socially, and politically 
distracted the land ? In every household a man's in- 
mates were his enemies^ and the state was filled 
with foes instead of friends and defenders*. So 
alarming was the situation of those countries^ that 

' Thucydides, lib. 7, p. 400, 40/. Yet Plato says, that it 
was rauch contested in Greece, whether helotia were well in- 
stituted in Greece or not: De'Legib. lib, 6, p. 871 : and he is 
himself quite confounded concerning the question of slavery, 
though he perceives the evils, as thefts, robberies, &c., which 
are necessarily connected with it. p. 872. 

^Isocrates ad Philip, p. 172, Opera. 

3 Thucydides, lib. 4, p. 306. 

■* Multi et varii timores, inter caeteros erainebat terror civilis^ 
ne suus quisque domi hostis esset. Livius, lib. 3, c. I6. Plu- 
tarch says, that the Romans in early times treated their slaves 
with moderation, and that they ate and worked with them. 
Coriolanus. 



Dlsquisiiion on Slavery, 4?01 

ih a treaty made between the Lacedemonians and 
the Athenians, they bound themselves^ to assist 
eJach other equally against the invasions of their 
enemies and the insurrections of their slaves ^ The 
Same evils afflicted the Thessalians and Chians \ 
■who, except the Lacedemonians, had the greatest 
number of slaves\ I repeat then, Vv^hy did they not 
relieve themselves from those evils \ which they 
could so easily have avoided ? Precisely for the same 
reason, that induces a predominant faction to debar 
catholics from the rights of citizenship in Ireland— a 
miscreant presumption in the party triumphant to op- 
press the depressed, in despite of justice, of their 

* Thacydides, lib. 3, p. 300. 

® So great was the, defection of the helotes, on the confusion 
caused by an earthquake at Sparta, that, if the Athenians had 
riot assisted the Lacedaemonians at that time", in all probability 
they would have overpouered their masters. Plutarch, Cimon, 

^ Aristotle, De Repub. lib. 2, c. 9. 

^Thucydides, lib. 8, p. 581. 

^ It was not because they could not see the advantages to be 
tlerived from such liberal conduct, as the following remark ma- 
nifests. The jEtolians had made an inroad into Laconia, and 
carried away 50000 slavef5. On this an old Spartan observed, 
that they had done them a favour, by relieving then from so 
heavy a charge. Plutarch, Cleomenes. They migi)t have 
made the emancipation of the heiotes enrich the exchequer, as 
Plutarch says that Cleomenes enfranchised as many heiotes 
as could pay five Attic minae for their liberty y and that by 
this he raised iifty talents. 

VOL. I, 2d 



402 Disquisition 07i Slavery, 

own interests, and of the security^ the character, 
aiid the consequence of the nation. 

The abolition of slavery in modern nations has in- 
duced some to extol the philosophy, and many to 
admire the religion, of the age. Let us defer our 
applause of philosophy, till slavery is truly unknown 
in the colonies of Europe, and until all the natives 
of Great Britain and Ireland, whatever be their 
religious opinions, enjoy all civil rights and privileges 
of every description. Till this is done^ to talk of 
our philosophy is to act the sycophant, or covertly 
to deride the superstitious. Still less is religion to 
be considered as the cause of the abolition of slavery 
m Europe. Yet Ward^ boldly affirms, that it's 
abolition was chiefly owing to Christianity. Indeed 
this writer seems to think, that the only question is. 
Whether we should attribute all or only the chief 
improvements in the law of nations to this cause. 
In order to authorize his opinion he quotes Adam 
of Bremen's ejaculation on the Danes : " Behold 
this piratical people, who formerly depopulated en- 
tire provinces of Gaul and Germany, now content 
with their own boundaries, and saying with the 
apostle. We will set our affections on things above%" 

How religion operated to effect this change is not 

^ Law of Nations, vol. 2, p. l6. Dub. edit. 
Mbid.vol.2, p. 7. 



JDisquisilion on Slavery* 403 

easy to imagine In 1258^ slaves and their children 
in our island were conveyed from one master to 
another as sheep and horses are now* : and in 1514 
we find a charter of Henry the Eighth enfranchising 
two slaves belonging to one of his manors. There 
also exists a charter of manumission of certain, 
bondmen by Elizabeth \ What sort of cause is 
that, which does not effect it's purpose until fifteen 
centuries have elapsed, nay for many more centuries ? 
for it cannot be said that slavery was abolished by 
Britain until last year. It is also worth observing, 
that the first nation in Europe, that abolished slavery 
in the colonies, did in the same session repeal 
Christianity 5 znd that on the reestablishment of 
Christianity in France^ slavery was reestablished in the 
colonies of the same nation. I do not perceive how 
religion relieved the world from slavery. Slavery 
was customary in Judsea, nor do I recollect a single 
passage, which favoured the liberty of the Gentile 
slave, or even recommended tenderness towards him: 
and Where is slavery reproved in that religion, which 
has been grafted on the Hebrew ? Barrington * says, 
that no such tenet is inculcated or established by 
the common law, or the Christian religion; adding: 

* palrymple's Annals of Scoiland^ vol. 1, p. 304. 

* Robertson's Charles the Fifth, Note 20, p. 217. 
^ May, ]802. ^ Ancient Stat. p. 240. 

2 D 2 



404 Disquisition on Slavery, 

'• In the early ages of Christianity every house was 
nlted with slaves : it was therefore highly incumbent 
upon those, W'ho professed this religion, and who 
were willing to become martyrs in support of it, to 
have frequently insisted upon what now appears to 
be the common rights and privileges of humanity.'' 
In this spirit some have attributed the abolition of 
slavery to the zeal of the clergy. There is some 
• verbal declamation of those reverend gentlemen to 
this effect, it is true : But what v/as their own con- 
duct ? And it will be admitted, that words contra- 
dicted by the actions of the speaker cannot have a 
very powerful influence. What is the fact? The 
clergy did sometimes indeed recommend to the 
reoDle to manumit their slaves : " Howbeit," savs 
Sir Thomas Smith', " the holy fathers and friars did 
not in like manner by theirs :" and it appears, that 
they not only held those whom they» possessed in 
bondage, but were very active in increasing the slaves 
of the church ; and for this purpose the people were 
told, that "by enslaving their bodies they procured li- 
berty'' to their souls, and to serve God was to reign','* 

^ Coraraon\^.-eakb, b. 3, c. iO; p. 137. 

' Potgiessems de Statu Servorum^ lib. 1, c. I, s. 6. 

^ Du Cange, vox Oblatiis. The church shov/ed some dis- 
lilie to slavery. But hov/ ? According to Johnson's Canons, 
canon /, A. D. 8/7, they refused to accept slaves in payment 
of penanoes. They m^ght glcss tbeii: conduct v/lth a show of 



Disquisition on Slavery, 405 

ioT to serve the pnesthood, in the jargon of ilie 
church, is to obey God. 

The first cause of the decline of slavery in Eng- 
land was the declension of that system, which in- 
troduced slavery into the lar.d. Conquest originated 
slavery ; the feudal law confirmed and extended it. 
" It does not appear/' says Robertson ^, "that the 
enfranchisement of slaves was a frequent prarctice, 
while the feudal system preserved it's vigour. The 
inferior order of men owed the recovery of their li- 
berty to the decline of that aristocratical policy, which 
lodged the most extensive power in the hands of a 
few members of society, and depressedall the rest." 
The clergy have no pretensions to the decav of the 
feudal law, v/hen even to this hour the church 
establishment is the cause of the remaining bar- 
barous distinction, under a ghostly semblance, if 
not between freeman and slave, at least betv;eea 
citizen and outcast. That the decline of the feudal 
system promoted the emancipation of slaves in Eu- 
rope, we may fairly conclude ; as where the feudal 
system is extinguished the natives are the most ivce.^ 
while in those countries where it is in force, ^"^ ■ 



sensibility, but it is much tracre prc.bable that slaves were rated 
too higb, or rather that slaves formed an unprofitable slock lu 
tlie accumulating funds of the clergy. 
' Charles the Fifth,- Note 20, ?. 1. 



406 Disquisition on Slavery • 

Hungary and Poland, slavery also displays a for- 
midable appearance. 

Neither religion nor the priesthood, no nor justice 
and humanity, tended effectually tp banish slavery 
from many nations of Europe, or to prohibit it's 
continuance in the colonies. No doubt ail men of 
just and gentle nature were advocates for it's aboli- 
tion ; but so little operative was either humanity or 
equity on this occasion, that any appeal to man's 
rights, or any call on his affections, was treated as 
passionate, declamatory, and irrelevant. To be 
heardj it was necessary to assume a tone of the 
most uninteresting apathy ; and the only argument, 
that was intelligible, was a mere calculation of 
profit and loss. Some of the advocates for slavery 
held the enfranchisement of slaves, as Bertrand de 
Guesclin ' constable of France did some centuries 
ago, to be a pernicious innovation; while others 
thought the colonies would return to their original 
state of a wilderness, as the Russian politicians* 
about half a century ago afHrmed, that to make 
men free in their country would injure the cultiva- 
tion of the land. This opinion however has beea 

^ Charles the Fifth, Note 20, s. 1. 

^ Lord Macartney says. It was customary for government 
never to refuse giving it's consent to the enfranchisement of 
any person, on the payment of five hundred rubles : but this 
was afterward revoked. Post. Works, vol. 2, p. IQ. 



Disquisition on Slaverif, 407 

confuted ; nor do I know one observing man, who 
latterly has not condemned the practice of tilling 
the earth by means of slaves. Bartolomeo' says, 
that five fi'ee labourers were more valuable in the 
Island of Bourbon than ten slaves in the isle of 
France; and that their marriages were more proli- 
fic; and Franklin % " that the labour of slaves 
here (Amej-ica) can never be so cheap as the labour 
of working men in Britain." The greater expen-„ 
siveness of slaves' work cannot be doubted ; yet with 
these facts universally ascertained, in despite of the 
flagitiousness of the practice, in contempt of the 
misery and afi^ictions it occasions; after every anxious 
terrour was allayed, after every sophism which as- 
sumed a thousand forms was refuted, slavery was 
not stopped by the Americans amo|^^ themselves^ 
or by Britons in their colonies : nor would an ulti- 
mate period have been fixed for it*s abolition pro-- 
bably in either, had not a British administration, 
which became a martyr to it's duty, aided this mea- 
sure with the whole weight of it's authority. After 
this disquisition on slavery, which was introduced 
In consequence of men being disfranchised on ac 
count of their professions, I now proceed to con- 
sider the impropriety of making religious opinions, 
an impediment to civil rights. 

' Voyage, p, 445, Eng. version, 
® Thoughts on Peopling Colonics^ 



408 Religion no Cause for obstructing Men 

RELIGION NO CAUSE FOR OBSTRUCTING MEN IN 
THE ENJOYMENT OF CIVIL RIGHTS. 

To make religious opinions direct social rights 
seems the greatest solecism ; yet this miserable prac- 
tice has not only been common to many countries, 
where a predominating clergy has been established, 
but Christians have exceeded all other religions in 
the ghostly causes of civil exclusion. I do not re- 
collect, that all the sects of the Jews were disfran- 
ofcised except one ; or that of the seventy-two Ma- 
hometan sects one only is entitled to serve the sultan. 

I do not say, that men's opinions are indifferent : 
they are of great importance to the individuals them- 
selves. Nor do I say, that professed opinions are 
indifferent to others ; whether those avowed opi- 
nions be religious or not. But religious opinions 
are not important to the state because they are re- 
ligious. Without reference to civil affairs they are 
politically nothing. Religious opinions, it is true, 
may regard the lav/s and customs, which connect 
society^ and secure the independence of the state. 
In such cases they may deserve political considera- 
tion. To explain. The quakers, who are or have 
been fanatics in many respects, consider it a religious 
injunction to submit to the enemy sooner than arm 
in the defence of themselves and their fellow-citi- 
zens. This is sufficiently absurd, without adverting 
to it's baseness. Suppose that there were a call on 



in the Enjoyment of Civil Rights, 409 

%l\ citizens la eonsequence of approaching danger, 
and that the quakers, for instance, should make it 
a point of conscience not to enrol their names and 
complete the levies, I think they who hazarded 
their lives might fairly reply to those quakers, who 
sought civil benefits afterward : No ; as yoiir con*- 
science prevented you from fighting to secure those 
benefits, our conscience prevents us from admitting 
you to participate in their enjoyment ; nor should 
you e'^pect to derive poliiical consequence in that 
state, the independence of which you abandoned. 
I also believe, that any state, which disclaimed the 
pope's authority, might have fairly limited the civil 
rights of the catholics, when the pope pretended to 
exercise civil power over all cathohcs, and when the 
catholics' acquiesced in his pretensions. This is 
grounded on this simple principle, that the prof^^ssed 
citizens of a foreign state should not possess the 
complete confidence of that state in which they re- 
side. On this the Venetians acted, v/ho, Sir Wai- 
ter Raleigh ' says, would never permit any clergy- 
n^an to be of their councils, nor any one who was 
subject or dependent by oath, homage, natural ob- 
ligation, pension, or reward, to any foreign power 
whatever. If the Venetians were right, the Eng- 
lish government was still more justified in preventing 
ihe catholic clergy from being of their councils ; 

^ Cabinet Council, c. 7, published by IMiltoiL 



410 Religion no Cause for ohtructmg Men 

and I freely add^ that, so long as any body of meri 
are appointed by a foreign power to lucrative situa« 
tions, and in this view all parishes, bishoprics, &c. 
m the catholic church are civil appointments, no 
catholic clergyman should be admitted to the entire 
confidence of government. As to the catholic laity, 
I have no apprehension what should exclude them. 
They have formally denied, that the pope has^ in 
their opinion, any temporal authority in these coun- 
tries. Indeed, if they were simple enough to hold 
the contrary position, what temporal power can he 
assurne over others, who has fallen himself to the 
state of a mendicant brother ? But Bonaparte has 
an uncle, who may be made pope, and then we 
$hall hear ^Patrick Duigenan, or Patrick Miiner, the 
apostolic vicar, or the vicar general, rail and cant — if 
the catholics be not friendly to Bonaparte, his uncle, 
whether cardinal or pope, will not convert their 
affections. It is ip the power of government, or of 
the protestant clergy and their abettors, to make 
the catholics most grateful, and to secure their pa- 
triotism beyorid all doubt, and against the possibility 
of defection. 

How men could hav^ been deluded into a notion, 
that eating on a festival leavened or unleavened 
bread \ that believing in two or seven sacraments 

' Diodorus S: :ulus mentions a wondrous island, where they 
!fiave different food for different days — on one fishj on one 
poultry, on a third raw fruity &c. Lib. 2. 



in the Enjoyment of Civil Rights, 41 1 

©r m seventy times seven \ or in the trinity of the 
jbramins of Europe or of the bramins of the East, 
or that the elements of matter were transmuted by 
a blessing or a curse, was or was not of such im- 
portance, that the capacity or incapacity of citizens 
to exercise the functions of civil government should 
depend thereon, baffles conjecture; unless we should 
conclude, that all such believers must be delirious?. 
There are ten thousand of such priestly conundrums^ 
which, as they are believed or not, raise or degrade 
the citizen. It is for instance a capital point with 
many, to pray turned toward Mecca^ : and the same 
people think, that to count their beads sitting cross- 
legged, or jointly on their heels and knees, is the true 
orthodo:s: position^ ^ while others deem such posture 
heterodox and damnable, and fully sufficient to ex- 
clude such devotees from all social rights. But here 
I cannot help observing, that the Moors in Spain 
were infinitely superior to the Spanish Christians in 
their conduct to each other. The Moors % who 
were Mahometans, permitted the Christians under 
their dominion to retain their religion, their latvs 
concerning property, their forms of administering 
justice, and their mode of levying taxes : but no 

' This is Hie orthodox number in the Greek Church. Ha- 
cartney. Post. Works, vol. 2, p. Qj. 

* Shaw's Travels, p. 218. ^ Ibid. p. 233. 

"^ Robertson's Charles the Fifth, toL I, p. 122, 



412 Religion no Cause for ohsiructing Men 

sooner had the ' Spaniards, who were Chrittiansj 
gained the mastery, than persecution raged. In 161 S, 
wijth fire and sword they expelled the Moors \ who 
had been so indulgent to them, as they had some 
time before banished eight hundred thousand Jews 
in gratitude to Heaven for the conquest of Granada, 
for which the chief actors were canonized, on ac- 
count of the great glory thus done to God, Thus 
a great part of the "population, including it's richest, 
most industrious, and most intelligent citizens, was 
bst to Spain ; and thus to please the clergy the 
nation was undone, 

Is it conceivable, that tests and creeds essentially 
serve any person or purpose except the selfishness 
of the clergy ? What have they to do with justice, 
with humanity, or even, with particular religions ? 
If Christianity be good, and a belief in it be necesr 
saiy to salvation, a man's avovval that he is a Christian 
should seem to be sufficient. By no means. To 
believe in Christianity is nothing : you must believe 
ivith the pope in catholic countries, with a protestart 
king in this, with a presbytery in a third, and with 
the conference should methodism ever becom.e the 
religious establishment of any nation, 

^Townsend's Travels in Spain, vol. 2, p. l6. He say?, 
that in ]609 they banished 140000 Moors, and in the three 
fbilowing years from Seville, Marci?, and Granada, jgOOOOOo 
p. 202, 



m the Enjoyment of Civil Rights, 413 

The whole series of creeds and tests are the cala- 
mitous and paltry contrivances of the clergy. What 
have speculative points in religion to do with politi- 
cal society ? What has the belief or disbelief of 
this or that point of doctrine to do with the rights 
of man to vote at county meetings, or to represent 
the nation in parliament, or to direct it's military 
forces or it's civil establishment ? But the protestants 
are not to be trusted, says the catholic in one coun- 
try : the catholics are not to be trusted, the protest- 
ants retort in another. "\¥hat ! you assault one 
another in your respective countries, and you win- 
der at each other's resistance and enmity. You ex- 
clude them, and you wonder that they are separa- 
tists : you treat them Vv^ith suspicion, and you won- 
der that they are reserved.^ It is not merely that 
this sect is militant in one country and triumphant 
in another, and thus in different countries that sects 
are mutually oppressing and oppressed : the same 
country shall be cursed with the alternate violence 
of those clerical factions, and the persecuted in their 
turn shall be persecutors. We read with pity and 
vexation, that in the twelfth century some persons 
in England, for not believing in Purgatory, or the 
efficacy of invocation of saints and prayers for the 
dead, were destroyed'. All this has been altered : 
2nd to believe in them now causes a negative, as not. 

' Henry's Hist, of England, b, 3^ c. 2, s, 3. 



414 Religion no Cause for obstructing Men 

to believe in them formerly caused a positive, pefie« 
cution. We talk of the dark ages ; talk rather of 
the darkest and the dark, and unfortunately in our 
days the gloom seems rather to thicken than to di- 
sperse. In England about half a century ago a bil^ 
was brotight into parliament, to relieve the Jews, 
The measure ultimately failed. Among other argu- 
^lents against this humane and politic measure it was 
said, that, if passed^, it would affect the prophecies ' : 
and thus, says Barrington% an ancient statute, that 
gave one half of a Jew's substance to good Chris- 
tians, yet admitted them to purchase a house and 
curtilagej which an enlightened parliament some 
years ago would not permit. This was a retrograde 
movement ; atnd so little is the present generation 
disposed to relieve the J^ws, that they seem deter- 
mined to relieve neither catholics nor dissenters* 
How does it happen, that the boasted English are 
behind the slow-moving Germans ? Is it the people 
or the government of either country, that is crimi- 
nal ? I do not decide. But late events are even less 
creditable to the highest officer of the state, than ta 
his immediate dependents, while the liberality of the 
German laws belongs preeminently to the emperors. 

^ Bowyer, the most learned printer of his time, wrote ai>. 
answe;- to this pious effusion. It was uttered by a common-' 
cj>uncil-m£;n. 



Ancient Stat. p. J^l. 



zn the Enjoi^ment of Civil Rights. 41^ 

Joseph the Second passed an edict of toleration in 
favour of the Jews', which was among the few of 
that ardent philanthropist's regulations, preserved 
by his brother Leopold. This edict his successor 
not only retained but enlarged. It was passed in 
1781 ; and it declared, " that all Christians of every 
denomination were equally citizens, and capable of 
holding all charges and offices in every department 
of the state." After this conduct of the sovereigns 
of Germany let us blush for other sovereigns, who 
seem to have been actuated by the sentiments of Philip 
of Spain. This monarch, when his Belgic subjects 
remonstrated on those edicts, which lost him their 
country, replied, " that he would rather not govern 
at all, than reign over heretics/' Such was the 
opinion of Philip the Second, a worthy partner of 
Mary of England — England, which has been as 
much distressed by bigoted sovereigns as any na-^ 
tion in Europe ^ 

How dare England boast her liberty, her justice, 
or her common sense, when she acts so servile and 
so iniquitous a part, as to endure laws and regula- 
tions, which some of the least enlightened parts 
of Europe have banished from their code ? Look 
to the universities : no person can be matriculated 

^ Gaxe's Hist, of tlie Kouss of Austria. 
' Of James it was said by an unrighteous Frenchman, " Voi- 
\d un bon roi^, qui a perdu trois royaum(>s pour une messe." 

6 



416 Religion no Cause for oLstructmg Meii 

mto the colleges of Oxford or Cambridge withn 
out subscribing I know not what farrago of cre- 
dulity. To this there would be little objection, for 
the fewer who enter these seminaries the better for 
liberality and science: but unfortunately degrees- 
from them facilitate or are necessary to many pro- 
fessions. It is also the law of the land, that no 
one can be elected to any office relating to the go- 
vernment of any city or corporation, unless withiii 
twelve months before he has received the sacrament 
of the Lord's supper according to the rites of the 
church of England, &c/ Nor can any member 
vote or sit in either house of parliament, undl he 
has subscribed and repeated the declaration against 
tran substantiation, invocation of saints, and the sa- 
crifice of the mass". What are these to a student's 
learning the arts and sciences, to an artisan's serving 
a town office, or to the competency of a legislator? 
No more than a famous dispute mentioned by Bede 
betv/een the English and the Scottish priesthood, 
whether the clerical tonsure should be circular or 
semicircular^ . * 

* Blackstone's Comment, vol. 4^ p. -^'58. 

^ Ibid. vol. 1, p. 1 62. It has been said, that it would be 
impossible to have the king's council formed of protestants and 
catholics. This may be— but the Aulic Council is compose4- 
of nine catholics and nine protestants. 

* Hist. Eccles. lib. 5j c, 21, 



in the Enjoyrfieni of Civil Rights, 4\*1 

The English arid the Irish are placed in peculiar 
difficulties. To b6 eligible to civil distinctions, they 
must believe just enough and no more. A presby- 
terian believes just too little, a catholic just too much; 
My lord bishop and the politicians of the same side 
say, the catholic is too foild of arbitrary power, and 
the presbyterian is too republican. Grant this iot 
the sake of argument. And what is the consequence? 
that neither should be exclusively admitted, but that 
both should be admitted, as then one would coun^ 
terbalan<:e the other and the equipoise be preserved* 
But what is the number of presbyterians to the pro- 
testants, were they the only claimants, and the only 
excluded ? Is the British constitution so wretched, 
that afew republicans would endanger it's safety, were 
they admitted to it's privileges ? As to the objection 
that the catholics are peculiarly fond of arbitrary 
power, this is the grossest hypocrisy. The most 
obedient to the royal will is ever most favoured. 
To such an extent is this carried, that the crown 
never advanced any one, who manifested a generous 
fbve for liberty, except by compulsion, or until he 
had disgraced his reputation by recanting his virtue. 
It is said, that the catholics are bigoted : What are 
the protestants ? and let it be remarked, that the 
constitution of Maryland, drawn out by lord Bal- 
timore, a catholic, prec-eded William Penn*s system 
of toleration for Pennsylvania. It is said, that the 

VOL. I. 2 B 



418 Religion no Cause for ohstmcting Men 

catholics are rebellious. What ! rebellious and prone 
to obey arbitrary power ? Is not this like a contra- 
diction ? To prove that they are not rebellious, we 
need only refer to the Canadians, who preserved 
their loyalty, when the provinces of America, which 
had embraced the reformed religion, universally 
revolted. 

One would imagine, first, that the framers of 
creeds thought they were essential to all purposes 
of civil life, though they have not the remotest ap- 
plication to them ; and secondly, that all have ab- 
solute power to believe or disbelieve as they please. 
But are not belief and disbelief extrinsic to the will ? 
Jn this point of view what effect must creeds have, 
considered as preliminary to the enjoyment of civil 
offices? They must promote hypocrisy and falsehood; 
by them the conscientious are rejected, the profligate 
promoted, and the weak, seduced. To require any 
man to avow or disavov/ certain rehgious speculative 
opinions is inquisitorial, and not more absurd than 
corrupting'. 

A man has no power over his belief, and in re- 

1 Stone, who was dismissed from his living for preaching 
against the trinity, puts this in a striking view. He said in his 
defence. : '' To swear a man to preach according to the spirit of 
the holy Scriptures, and make him conform his preaching to an 
act of parliament, is a species of chicanery, to which I can. 
fnd no parallel." 



in the Enjoyment of Civil Rights, 419 

ligiovis matters his creed depends so much on the 
belief of those who infused their own opinion pre- 
maturely into his childish mind, that he is precluded 
in a great measure for ever from inquiring into it's 
validity. No. point merely speculative in theology 
or religion, as I have repeatedly affirmed, has ra- 
tionally any respect to social rights or to civil prero- 
gatives. If an individual conduct himself well, 
What should his fellow citizens desire more ? and 
what excessive impertinence it is to ask him his opi- 
nion concerning Mahomet or Moses, Ali or Omar, 
St. Patrick' or the Virgin Mary i To such pragmati- 
cal questions a vulgar answer is suitable — What is 
that to you ? Take the most extreme case, that can 
be put with regard to this point, and consider it's 
futility. In Pennsylvania it is enacted, that public 
functionaries must declare their belief in the exis- 
tence of a God, which some divines in England 
have called a test law. Let it be called so. This 
avowal, v*^hich I am persuaded no man could resist 
making on being demanded, is unwise in many re- 
spects. If it were possible to shake any man's as- 
surance, that 'a cause universal and unchanged 
directs the universe, this might have that effect. It 
is said, that the ancient legislators of Rome pro- 

* St. Patrick drove all the noxious animals out of Ireland, as 
Hercules did out of Crete. Diod. Sicul. lib. 4. 
2 E 2 



420 Religion no Cause for obstructing Men 

vided no punishment for parricide, because they 
would not suppose, that such a crime could be 
committed. If there be any truth in this observa- 
tion^ How extremely absurd it is, to make men avow 
a belief in that, which no man can be supposed to 
disbelieve ! Does not this insinuate a suspicion, that 
it m.ay be discredited ? Yet this law was adopted 
with an addition by Locke in his Draught of a Con- 
stitution for Carolina. His words are : *' No man 
shall be permitted to have a farm in Carolina, or to 
have any state or habitation within it, that doth not 
acknowledge the being of a God, and that God is 
publicly to be worshipped." By the latter part of 
the article Wakefield, who was a zealous Christian, 
would have been excluded from Locke's common- 
v/ealth ; for he thought, that God should not be 
publicly but privately worshipped. Let me again 
ask. What could be gained by the required declara- 
tion of God's existence ; for I know not. What 
would be the impression on any man's mind reading 
in some future period this article of the Carolina 
legislator? That there were at this time many atheists, 
and that much danger was expected from a nume- 
rous introduction of them into that country. Con- 
sider the absurdity of the law a htfle further. How 
are these atheists to be excluded ? By their refusing, 
on the magistrate's proposing the test of atheism, to 
declare their theistic belief. I will not> says the 



in the Enjoyment of Civil Rights, 421 

atheist, affirm, that I believe in God. This is to 
suppose a very conscientious atheist truly^ and yet 
this test can never have any effect except under such 
circumstances. After Locke's creed, hear Plato's ' 
provision on this point : " It is punishable to say, 
that there are no Gods, or that they are not in- 
terested in human affairs, or that they can be easily 
appeased by vows and sacrifices." When philoso- 
phers assume the office of priests, no wonder that 
they trifle like them. It must not however be ima- 
gined, that Plato's test has any coincidence with the 
tests in England. The former is simple and per- 
spicuous when compared to them ; for these are so 
numerous in their particulars, and so subtle in their 
construction, that they must have been drawn up 
by some direct descendant from the scholastic arith- 
meticians, who calculated how many spirits might 
dance on the point of a needle without jostling j and 
they are so ingeniously absurd and so vastly extra- 
vagant, that no one without the Jesuit's commentary 
can believe and thinks or think and believe. Yet 
so it is, that in obedience to the clergy, who by 
their artifice and imposition press God, nature, re- 
ligion, the constitution, it's laws and liberties, civi- 
lized life and social order, into their own selfish 
service, that this and much more is endured to gra- 

' De Legib. lib. 10, p. 948, 



422 Religion no Cause for obstructing Men 

tify their odious dominion ; nor dare any one expose 
their illiberal conduct, who expects the favourable 
opinion of a great body of the people^ so com- 
pletely have they duped mankind. 

What advantage, directly or indirectly, any go- 
vernment, which pretends to liberality, justice, or 
common sense^ can derive from creeds and tests is 
inconceivable. The consequences are sectarian 
zeal, enmity, and persecution. This may suit the 
policy of a government, but it must be of the worst 
kind. It was that of the rulers of the Egyptians, 
than whom no people were ever more debased by 
monarchical and sacerdotal tyranny. It was the 
policy of the Egyptian monarch, says Diodorus Si- 
culus, to give to the different provinces of his em- 
pire different objects of worship, that thus they 
might all be systematically at variance, and conse- 
quently that they might never concur or unite, to 
restrain his accumulated influence, and his lawless 
prerogatives. 

What king ' or ministry would adopt such con- 
duct, who was not determined to be execrated while 
living and after his death ? What governors not the 
most imbecile, if not the worst, could countenance 
such miserable proceedings ? What governm^ent de- 

' James, in his Basil. Doron, p. 24, speaks of a tyrant think- 
ing himself never sure but by the dissensions and factions 
among his people. 



in the Enjoyment of Civil Rights, 423 

serving the name could act so subordinate and per- 
nicious a part ? It is scarcely possible, that any such 
government could exist, except among such a people 
as the Egyptians, who honoured hogs and croco- 
diles, and adored things which all other nations re- 
gard with disgust or horrour. 

Is it suppposed, that this conduct can strengthen 
any state ? What ! is the government of a nation to 
be upheld by the principles of war and discord ? 
Miserable people ! wretched government ! in which 
misrule springs out of anarchy. What can mini- 
sters propose to themselves by such conduct ? What 
can' any description of people hope by abetting 
them ? It may serve a few aristocratical families, or 
a corporation of priests, or a desperate faction, to 
.abuse a credulous resentful people ; but it is vital to 
the virtue, to the honour^ to the interests, and to 
the energy of a nation. If so many men of a cer- 
tain sect or religion be estranged from the rights of 
citizens, the state is weaker by this deduction ; and 
if they be estranged on account of speculative dog- 
mas in religion, this body is sacrificed, at the expense 
of the nation, for the sole and selfish emolument of 
established priests. What inducements do they 
profess for such persecution ? Is it to benefit society ? 
They who were excluded are surely not benefited. 
Does this creed, or that test, advert to one social 
virtue, to one moral attribute ? Is it for any spiritual 



424 Religion no Cause for obstructing Men 

purpose ? Is it to convert the unbelieving, to re- 
claim the lost sheep of Christ's flock, or the wan- 
derers from the house of Israel ? Persecution has 
been tried in many places, and at many times, but 
it has never made converts. Persecution of every 
kind has been exercised in Ireland ; It has failed 
there ; and though one religion has been not less 
supported, tlian the other has been depressed. Who 
have been the converts to the protestant religion? A 
few beggar boys and foundlings, who might or 
might not be the children of catholic parents, have 
been reared at great national expense in protestant 
charter schools. It is scarcely possible at this time, 
that any one should be converted from the catholic 
to the protestant church. He who would be a -sin- 
cere convert must think ; and the catholic who 
thinks will extend his thoughts beyond so near a re- 
semblance. So far is persecution from promoting 
conversion, thrt it confirms believers in their invete- 
rate errours, and induces even those who disbelieve 
in the persecuted church still to remain nominal 
members of it, lest they should seem by abandoning 
it to shrink from their party because it was oppressed. 
There is but one mode of conversion, and it is as 
just as effectual. If any religion be thought good^^ 
and it is wished to reduce all other creeds to it, 
give to all religions unequivocal, universal, and 
^^qual tpleradon.* This, to the extent in which it 



in the Enjoyment of Civil Rights. 425 

has been acted on, has t:on verted zealots and se'cta^ 
ries from their worst errours. The mild and tole- 
rant wisdom of Antoninus Pius * allayed even the 
spirit of the Jews ; and the same conduct from the 
government of China to the same religion has so 
abated the Jewish temper, and so diminished their 
numbers^, that their priests find some difficulty in 
keeping up a congregation among them. " So dif- 
ferent/' adds Barrow ^ " are the effects produced by 
suffering instead of persecuting religious opinions.'^ 
Wherever the priestly spirit has had liberty to 
ferment, it has occasioned the most uncharitable ef" 
fectSj and the grossest violations of liberty and jus- 
tice. It has converted the tyrant's motto of Divide 
and command intoi3ivide and fall. Can the Eng- 
lish desire to have the evil of tests and creeds more 
strongly proved than by the emigration of it's 
people ? This is severely felt by the government ; 
and, with ingenuity preposterous as it's policy, it 
would stop this desertion by scraps of pamphlets 
.belying the advantages, which men derive from re- 
moving to America, and by requiring a ship of a 
given tonnage to so many passengers, and by laws 

* Gibbon, Decline and Fall, &c., c. 16, p. 530. 

* China, p. 438. Renny, in his History of Jamaica, says, 
that the privileges granted by the proprietors to the Jews, 
which the selfishness and fanaticism of other rations deprived 
^hem of, was attended with the happiest effects. 



426 Religion no Cause for obstructing Men 

against seducing artizans &c. to leave the country. 
Those test laws^ which prevent men from establish- 
ing themselves in corporate towns, force some to 
emigrate to Birmingham, or Manchester, or some 
other town, not cursed by such obstructions, while 
they drive the more indignant abroad, who are com- 
monly the most enterprising, and the most able. 
Repeal them, and your restrictions on emigration 
will be useless ; you will then have men where they 
ought to be, and as many as the state can conve- 
niently employ. A law against emigration will not 
hinder the oppressed from seeking their fortunes in 
a more hospitable land ; your laws are more effec- 
tual to promote than to prevent emigration. You 
annul the people's rights, you make them strangers 
in their native land, yet you say. Remain with us, 
or you shall suffer. But they actually suffer the 
greatest injuries. Bind them by indissoluble chains, 
give them all those rights, which their favoured 
countrymen enjoy, and interest with chains of gold 
and silver shall bind them permanently to their 
homes '. Do this, and be just to yourselves and 

* '^ That country," says sir W. Raleigh, '^ deserveth to be 
beloved of all men, which loveth all men indifferently 3 not 
that country, which, respecting the best parts, advanceth a 
few : no m.an therefore is to be blamed, if for such cause he 
desire rather to abandon than embrace his country." Cabinet 
Council^ p, 150. 



in the Enjoyment of Civil Rights, 427 

them. Then v/Ill those mystical demons with peace 
on their Hps and daggers in their hearts, and all 
their ministers, and underlings, and dupes be 
abashed and discomfited. Then no more shall the 
Guises and their ambitious partizans, acting on a 
Vv^eak king, sacrifice protestants or catholics to this 
or that religion. Riots shall not be raised in Eng- 
land, or a rebellion in Ireland ; nor shall any other 
country like Poland be first weakened by religious 
quarrels and then overpowered : For was it not by 
excluding the protestant dissenters, and those of the 
Greek church, contrary to the pacta conventa esta- 
blished in 1572;, that Poland v/as weakened, that it 
rapidly declined, and was finally partitioned' ? What 
destroyed the Jews but their own religious disputes, 
and religious quarrels, which delivered them bound 
to their enemies, and which in fact blotted Judea as 
it has Poland from the map of the world ? Observe 
the effects of a contrary practice ^. It was by being 
less partial than any other nation, at a certain period, 
that England attained her preeminence. It was by 
superior liberality, that the Low Countries became 
more opulent, more industrious, and better and 

* Burnet's View of Poland. 

^ It is said, that jord Macartney's equal conduct, when go- 
vernor of Granada, united the Scotch protestants and French 
papists cordially to resist the invasion of the enemy, though 
under a different manageajent they had resolved to exttrminate 
each other. Post, Works, vol. 2. 



428 IFa7it of Property no Bar 

more easily governed \ It was by granting liberty 
of conscience, and civil and political freedom to all, 
that America in a great measure has advanced so 
rapidly in population ; for thus she has become the 
common refuge of the oppressed. 

I have now considered the principal of those un- 
just causes, which have excluded men in different 
countries from a suffrage in the state. But it may 
be suggested, that though neither property, nor 
family, nor professions, nor religion be necessary 
to entitle men to vote in tithings or hundreds, such 
qualifications may be requisite to authorize them to 
represent the nation in the legislature. This deserves 
notice, because in some nations, where they have 
been disregarded as affecting either the subordinate 
or the lowest order of civil rights, they have been 
particularly considered as affecting the paramount and 
supreme. I shall proceed briefly to speak of them. 

NEITHER WANT OF PROPERTY, NOR FAMILY, 
NOR PROFESSIONS, NOR RELIGION, OUGHT TO 
PEBAR ANY MAN FROM REPRESENTING THE 
PEOPLE. 

1 shall first consider property. Those nations, 
which have esteemed property or wealth a necessary 

' St. Pierre sayS, that the riches, power, and happiness of 
Holland do not depend so nnuch on it's republican forni of go- 
\ernment, as on the freedom which admits all to attain all ho- 
soars and offices. Etudes de la Nature^ t. 1, p. 186- 



to Representing the People. 420 

requisite to officiate in the higher departments of 
the state, are numerous. Heraclides ^ mentions a 
people, who chose a thousand from themselves iit 
consequence of their weahh. But to confine myself 
fo a few known examples, let me first advert to 
the Athenians. In their state originally the ar^ 
chons were chosen from those of the highest census^ 
Aristides however thought, that it would be better 
for the commonwealth, to have them elected from 
all the people, which was accordingly decreed. In 
the Roman republic a certain property was likewise 
necessar}'', to entitle citizens, otherwise qualified, 
to be either knights or senators ; but the time when 
this became a law of the constitution does not ap- 
pear. Dionysius of Halicarnassus^ says, that riches 
influenced the appointment of the first hundred 
senators ; but he mentions them as affecting their 
election by their common influence in the affairs of 
society, not by any special regulation : and Seneca* 
after saying, that property distinguished every order 
in the state, knight, senator, &c., adds ; formerly 



» De Politlcis, p 528. 

* Plutarch, Aristides. It is worth remarking, that two of 
the articles proposed by Antipater to the discomfited Atiienians 
were, that they should deliver to him Demosthenes and Hy- 
perides, and confine the offices of state to the rich. Plutarch,. 
Phocion. 

^ Lib. 2i Antiq. Rem. "* Declam, 2da, 



4S0 Want of Property no Bar 

it was not so. Ligonius' thinks, that it preceded 
the war against Hannibal. That it must have been 
thus early is certain, as at that period no senator 
could exercise any trade, or pursue any mercantile 
business^. Pliny the elder ^ v/as equally ignorant of 
the time, v/hen a certain property vvas attached to 
the senatorial qualification ; but he adds, When se- 
nators began to be chosen by their opulence, and 
magistrates and generals were honoured for their 
fortunes, profligacy seized the world, and' wealth 
became the only object of human ambition. By 
Augustus* the qualification was raised from eight to 
twelve thousand sesterces, about seven thousand 
pounds sterling. 

In England there is a proprietary qualification, 
and the confused representation in this country has 
made it twofold. Every knight of a shire must 
have a clear estate of freehold or copyhold to the 
value of six hundred pounds a year, and every citi- 
zen and burgess to the value of three hundred 
pounds. This, says Blackstone', somewhat ba- 

* Zamoscius, de Sen. Rom. c. 10. This tract was composed 
by Slgonius. 

^ Quaestus omnibus patribus indecorus visus. Livius^ lib. 21^ 
c. 63. 

3 Hist. Nat. lib. 14, proosm. 

^ Suetonius, lib« 2, c. 14^, or 57. I have confused the fi- 
gures, and cannot turn to the book at present. 

^ Comment, yol. 1, p. 17O. 



to Representing the People, 431 

lances the ascendant, which the boroughs have gained 
over the counties, by obliging the trading interest 
to make choice of landed men. It is also said, 
that this was intended to exclude the commercial 
interest from the house of commons, which was 
supposed not to be hearty in the cause of the revo- 
lution. Whatever was the motive of this pitiful 
expedient, it was probably intended to serve the re- 
presentation, as it is by disuse long since virtually 
repealed. 

The Americans \ from v/hom we might expect 
more liberality, have in some provinces required a 
certain property, to enable a citizen to be elected 
to the representative assembly, or to the senate. 
This no doubt must meet with Mably's entire ap- 
probation% who admires Solon for confining the 
magistracy to the rich. But Solon is not to be 
slandered by such ill-imagined praise : he appointed 
the rich to expensive offices, that is, he honoured 
them by making them exclusively contribute to the 
chief wants of the state. This was the prerogative, 
which their means deserved. Athenagoras says in 
Thucydides^ the rich are the best guardians of the 

' Mably on America, Letter, 2, p. 9I. ^ Ibid. p. 49. 

^ Lib. 6, p. 441. Demetrius said, tiiat Riches are not only- 
blind, but tiieir leader Fortune also : Diog. Laert. p. 355, and 
Plato, De Repub- lib. 8, p, 717, that they who make wealth 
an object in a commonwealth take a blind leader. 



4S2 TPant of Propertij ?io Bar 

public treasure ; the prudent are the best counsel 
lors ; but to decide on what is proposed, the many 
are the best judge, A moneyed qualification would 
have excluded Phocion, Aristides, Socrates^ and 
many others the most celebrated in Grecian history* 
It is proper, that a banker be opulent ; and pro^ 
perty or security should be required, to enable a 
person to be collector of the revenue : But why 
should riches qualify a legislator ? Riches are proofs 
of opulence, and nothing more. The richest man 
may be the most stupid and the most corrupt person 
in the community. Riches are inherited, granted by 
caprice, accidentally obtained, or they may be the 
fruits of extortion and fraud. When money au-* 
thorises individuals to attain the highest pohtical 
consequence, it is a greater disgrace to be poor, than 
to be wicked. Then the aspiring say, with Mil- 
wood the courtezan, " My soul disdained depen- 
dence and contempt. Riches, no matter by what 
means obtained, I saw secured the worst of men 
from both. I found it therefore necessary to be 
richj and to this end I summoned all my arts. You 
call them wicked, be it so," &c. To make wealth 
a criterion of merit, or an indispensable preparation 
for civil and political consequence, is perverse and 
unpopular. Aristotle says repeatedly \ that to elect 

» De Repub, lib. 2, c. 11^ Ibid, lib. 3, C. 7, De Rhetor- 
lib. 1, C. 8. 



to Representing the People, 433 

magistrates by their wealth is oligarchical. Wealth 
carries with itself it's own preponderance ; so"* power- 
ful is it, that were any one to be so pragmatical as 
to interfere with it's operation, he should rather limit 
than extend by artificial means it's necessary in- 
fluence. 

The next important distinction Is family. This 
was a prime qualification in the Roman state : pro- 
perty was but secondary. Nay, long after the ple- 
beians were admitted to the highest honours of the 
state, Popilius^ was banished from the senate by 
the censor, Cn. Lentulus, because he was grandson 
of one who had been emancipated. This, and all 
that corresponds with it, is abominable ; yet, while 
I condemn such illiberality and injustice, I by no 
means desire, that the posterity of the glorious 
should not enjoy the credit, which devolves naturally 
on them. A tenderness and attention to the de- 
scendants of the illustrious become all men, who 
sympathize with their actions, and would emulate 
their fame. But this generosity should not betray 
them into erroursnot less dangerous, though more 
pardonable, than to detract from the just reputation 
of the meritorious. Let them not be so prodigal 
in their acknov/ledgments to the son, as to dis- 
grace themselves. It seems, that the Athenians 

* Cicero pro Cluentio^ c 47, 
VOL. I, 2 F 



434 JVant of Famly no Bar 

occasionally erred ia this respect. Alcibiades was 
of the femily of Alcm^nides, who rose against the 
Pislstratidas\ This principally prejudiced the Athe- 
nians in his favour ; and to such a degree did he 
transgress in consequence, that he dared to perpe- 
trate greater crimes against his country, than either 
of that family, w^hom his ancestor opposed. Let 
posterity respect the son for the father's sake ; but 
let it not be so foolishly fond, as to ruin the child, 
and doat to it's own injury. Yet such would be the 
folly and fondness of citizens, if, because the father 
was wise, they should choose his simple son for their 
counsellor ; or if, because the father excelled in any 
official department, which required industry and ex- 
perience, they should appoint his son, who had 
neither, to fill his situation. 

In Athens they did not grant to any one inherit- 
able dignities, but they are to be censured* for ex- 
cusing the descendants of certain men from taxes, 
and for supporting those of others at the public ex- 
pense. It will appear strange to those, who have 

* Demosthenes adv. Medlam, p. 626. Plato, first Alcibia- 
des, p. 429. 

^ The Spartans granted to Anticrates and his posttVity the 
same exemption for stabbing Epaminondas. A people, who 
could act thus, were lo£t fur ever. Plutarch says, that Calli- 
crntes enjoyed in iiis time this exemption granted five hundred 
years before to his ancestor. Agesilaus^ 



to Representing the People, 435 

ixot considered the prodigality of the people, to ob- 
serve, that the democracy of Athens in gratitude 
frequently conferred favours on the children of their 
most respected citizens not less considerable, than 
monarchs have often lavished on the unworthy 
through ostentation and vice. 

In France before the; revolution there were lifty 
thousand nobles. Ail, these were exempt from taxa- 
tion, and many were supported at the public ex- 
pense. This was a great grievance, and certainly 
tended to produce the revolution, and it's antece- 
dent and subsequent calamities; But this preroga- 
tive to certain men, because they were descended 
from others who might or might not have any just 
claims to sach distinction, is literally nothing, 
compared with men inheriting offices of the highest 
trust because their fathers exercised them. This, 
which forcibly reminds us of the classificatiori 
among the Hindoos and Egyptians, by which sons' 
followed the professions of their fathers, is actually 
the constitution of the British senate; 

Aristotle' says expressly, that there is no just 
Reason why men should rule on account of their 
opulence or their family. Plato's'' authority is still 
more in point. He has repeatedly enumerated what 
he esteems the benefits of life — the greater goods he 

^ De Repub. lib. 3, c. 13, * De Legib lib. I, p, 'jyz. 



4S6 Want of Family no Bar 

calls prudence, temperance, justice, and fortitude ; 
adding, that these the legislator should principally 
regard. The less he calls health, symmetry of per- 
son, bodily vigour, and opulence. Thus wealth 
stands the last in the latter distribution of these, 
while family is wholly unnoticed. How greatly 
would those philosophers be surprised, had they 
been acquainted with the British house of lords ! At 
Rom^ men were eligible to the senate partly because 
they were patricians, but in England there are le- 
gislators merely because they are patricians bom. 
This blunder exceeds all others. In Russia^ no 
one not noble can purchase land : in Hungary"^ none 
not noble can possess land. To me this aristocrati- 
cal selfishness is comparatively equitable and en- 
lightened, compared with the constitutional preroga- 
tives of the nobility of Great Britain, who are not 
merely legislators by royal patent, but who legislate 
by right of descent from the original patentee. 
Thus^ as the poet speaks of the paramours of her 
who acts the wanton, " another and another still 
succeeds^ and tke last fool is welcome as the for- 
mer." The reason assigned for the crown nomi- 
nating to the house of lords, and these again trans- 
mitting their legislative and their other high prero- 



' ^^acar!ney's Post. Works, vol. 2, p. 12. 
* To\vn5oii's Travels in Hungary, p. 104. 



to Representing the People. 437 

gatives to their descendants, is given by Blackstone^ 
in the following words. " A body of nobility is 
also more peculiarly necessary in our mixed and 
compounded constitution, in order to support the 
rights both of crown and people, by forming a 
barrier to withstand the encroachments of both." 
That is to say. Your compounded constitution c(5n- 
sists of the crown and the people^ who are so inimi- 
cal to each other, that the nobles are appointed as 
peace-makers between them. Blackstone in ano- 
ther part of his Commentaries says* : " In our old 
law books it is laid down^ that peers are created for 
two purposes, ad consulendum and ad defendendum 
regem^ for which reasons the law gives them certain 
great and high privileges." But if every man by 
being created a peer became in virtue of the royal 
writ, or royal patent, as wise as Solomon, and an 
overmatch in strength for Goliah, this is no reason 
why the son should possess the qualities, and of 
course the prerogatives of his father. Whatever 
peers in days of yore might have been, their powers 
of body and mind are not now increased by their 
honours : nor are they the king's counsellors, or 
within some degrees of it ; for it seems, that the 
privy council is not the council of the crown, nor 
are the ministers, according to an assurance just 

> Cojnroent. b. 1, c. 2, p. 158. * Ibid. p. 22/. 



4rSS Want of Family no Bar 

published by a great personage. The ministry^ 
which is considered by him and the court circle a fa- 
mily arrangement, has only ostensible confidence ) 
for the real council of the crown is another family 
arrangement, actually composed of sons, &c. ; all 
which is set forth in a plaintive tone by the presi- 
dent of this latter council in an address to Mr. 
Canning, It is a curious circumstance, and shows, 
that miracles have not ceased ; for thus the author 
of the Antijacobin, and of course of the Double 
Arrangement contained in it, is appealed to, not as 
poetaster of mockery on German nonsense, but as 
minister of Great Britain on a Double Arrangement 
involving the interests and dignity of the nation. 
This parnphlet, on which major Hogan's is ^ 
commentary, shows how the a£airs of the British 
state civil and military are conducted, and the prin- 
ciples of their movement : and it also shows, that 
whatever pretensions the peers formerly had to be 
counsellors of the crown, they have outlived their 
calling. 

We have other reasons assigned for the existence 
of those noble legislators. Paley^ says. The prin- 

* Essays, vol. 2, p. 228. What notion must a thinking man 
have of those, who consider themselves ennobled by such 
means ? The emperor Sigismund had a just notioii of the value 
of such appointments. On a dispute between a doctor of laws 
and a knight for precedence^ he preferred the former, paying. 



to Representing the People, 439 

cipal use of the house of lords is, that thus the king 
has an opportunity to reward the servants of the 
public by honours grateful to them, and at a small 
expense to the people. Is it granted to the servants 
of the public ? Who is there so profligate as to say, 
that the peerage is granted to men who by tlieir in- 
tegrity, virtues, and talents in offices of pubHc trusr, 
have served the nation ? Sometimes indeed men of 
distinguished merit are ennobled, just as those who 
prey on the credulity of mankind mix a moral sen* 
tence among their visions and mysteries. But what 
are the general causes, which raise men to this titu- 
lar nobility ? A minister grows gray in sordid pro- 
fligacy, his arts fail, his means of corruption pail 
the voracious appetites of his abettors, even the 
house of commons sickens under his influence, and 
because he can no longer bribe a majority of them 
to subscribe to the court doctrines, he is ennobled. 
That is, when he is rejected from the commons, he 
rises to the peerage \ Or a man becomes rich by 
peculation at home, or rapacity abroad, and he is 
ennobled j or he is the obsequious lackey of every 

** I can in one day make a hundred armed knights, but a good 
Sector of laws I could not make in a thousand years." St. 
Palaye, Mem, de la Cheval. p. 364, I have quoted elsewhere 
a similar remark by Henry the Eighth. 
^ Corneille's rant might be here applied. 

'* Et ipontant sur le faite il aspire a descendre,*' 



440 iVant of Family no Bar 

administration, or he has devoted himself to the for- 
tunes of this political faction, and he is ennobled ; 
or the new made minister wants a majority in the 
lords, or the administration plots some archtrea- 
chery, the union of England and Ireland for in- 
stance, as that compact between the wolves and 
sheep has been called, and then many are ennobled. 
So far are those miscalled honours from being re- 
wards for public service, they are frequently stigmas 
denoting public delinquency. Public service and 
late created peers. Who should expect to find them 
associated in the same sentence ? Compare the 
numbers of those who are ennobled for their pub- 
lic merits with those for their public demerits, and 
the numbers on that side will resemble the patriot 
band, which fled with Cato from the despotism of 
th« dictator^ compared with Caesar's senate, a thou- 
sand strong, formed of parasites, despoilers of pro- 
vinces, and men impeached of treachery and pecu- 
lation by the people. Is it then wonderful, that 
the reformation of so many evils are stopped by 
them ? The abolition of slavery some years ago 
passed the commons : it was rejected by the lords. 
How were ^they interested in the slavery of man- 
kind ? Some years before that event, a bill passed 
the commons^ rendering all members of their house 

* Belsham's Hist, of Englanfl. vol. \, p. 264. 



io Representing the People, 441 

incapable of places of trust : this was also rejected 
Jj^y the lords. How were they interested in the emo- 
luments of the commons ? I should however re- 
mark, that the bill next session passed both lords 
and commons, but it was rejected by the king^ 

Paley says, that^ by conferring titles of nobility, 
men are rewarded at a small expense to the public* 
They are most expensive. I do not merely refer to 
the pensions granted, when poor commoners are 
ennobled^ or to the money voted to purchase theni 
estates, and to similar donations, I refer to the 
amazing number of new offices, which are daily 
created, while the old offices, which have declined 
into mere sinecures, are continued, either as pen- 
sions for the peers, or as means to provide for the 
younger branches of their families, whom the law 
of primogeniture renders paupers, and whom the 
customs of the crown and of the aristocracy render 
idle and expensive. This is a miserable system ; 
and, so far are these hereditary honours from being 
oeconomical, they are the most expensive, that ever 
nation adjudged to it's citizens. Nor is the custom 
more pernicious than unconstitutional, according to 
the principles I before quoted from Blackstone, an4 
now from Henry "" ; " Hereditary titles of honour 

' Belsham's Hist, of England, vol. \, p. 323. 
' Henry's History of England^ b. 2, c. 3, s, 2, 



442 "" PVant of Family no Bar 

unconnected with offices were unknown, nor had 
our Anglo-Saxon kings the prerogative of granting 
such titles." " Honours and offices were convertible 
terms ; for all honours in their original had duties, 
or offices, annexed to them : an earl, or comeSy -was 
the governor of a county^ &c."* In Poland^ the 
connexion of offices and titles was even more liberal 
than among our Anglo-Saxon ancestors. Conner 
says, in that country the titles of palatine and lord 
are annexed to employments, with which persons of 
mature judgment are invested. Nor were titles and 
employments hereditary in this country. They 
were perhaps appointed in some measure as in Hin- 
dostan^ There " the patent of nobility is estimated 
according to military command, and the number of 
cavalry nientioned in the patent." But in England 
we are now in respect to this distribution of honours 
and offices not only declined beneath our Anglo- 
Saxon ancestry, but far beneath the Poles and Hin- 
doos: earldoms, and marquisates, and dukedoms, 
&;c., are frequently conferred without any employ- 
ment or office connected with them. It was re- 
served for England in the nineteenth century, to 
Jiave generals without a soldier, magistrates with- 



* Blackstone's Comment, vol. 1, p. 272. 

* Connor's Hist, of Poland, vol. 2, p. 5. 

? Ferishta's Hist, of Dekkan, vol. l, p. 6, l^fotg. 



to Representing the People, 44?3 

out a jurisdiction, and representatives vv^ithout an 
elector. 

Yet is this pardonable, when compared with that 
enormous absurdity of men being hereditary legis- 
lators. It shocked Hobbes, who was not easily disr 
turbed by whatever approached absolute power. 
Ha says, " Good counsel comes not by lot, nor by 
inheritance, and therefore there is no more reason 
to expect good advice from the rich or noble in 
r^atters of state, than in delineating the dimensions 
cf a fortress', &c." An hereditary senate is a pure 
evil, an absurdity without one single circumstance 
to qualify it's grossness. This British custom we 
are informed was told the Chinese t What were their 
expressions in consequence ? " They laughed hear- 
tily," says Barrow^ " at a man being born a legis- 
lator, when it required so many years of close ap- 
plication to enable one of their countrymen to pas§ 
his examination for the very lowest order of state 
officers." Well might they laugh , but what was 
a farce to them is a tragedy to us. 

Of all the offices, which have illustrated the 
wisest and best men, that of legislation is preemi- 
nently the chief: yet in England a person is ap- 
pointed to this situation by being the son of a legisla- 
ting parent j that is, a legislator is appointed in Britain 

? Leviathan, part 2, c. 3Q * Travels in China, p. 114j^ 



444 JVant of Family no Bar 

by means, which would not be adopted to fill the 
lowest profession in the same state. Diviners in 
Scythia' had their priestly prerogative by inheritance, 
and the mode of appointment suited their mystery. 
We likewise read% that in Sparta and Egypt heralds, 
musicians, and cooks^ followed the professions of 
their fathers. We also read in our historians^ that 
the offices of cook and of marshal of the whores 
in the early part of our annals were inherited. In 
our times we have found it decent to abolish the 
one, and beneficial to cut off the entail of the other. 
The culinary art in the king's household is not? to be 
trusted to the descendant of the last cook royal, 
but to legislate for a nation is abandoned to this mi- 
serable casualty. 

No honours should be hereditary. It is not ex- 
cusable in China even in the solitary instance of the 
descendants of Confucius % who have some slight 
prerogatives. But for a body of men to inherit a 
right to legislate for a nation, to pronounce on per- 
sons accused of political delinquency, and to have 
the ultimate appeal from the chief courts of justice 
in the state, exceeds all other absurdities in govern- 
ment so much, that it might seem to be imagined 



' Herodotus, lib. 4, c. Q7y ^ Ibid. lib. 6, c. CQ, 

* Henry^s Hist, of England, b. 3, c. 7. 
IJJuHalde, vol.2, p. 103. 



to Representing the People, 445 

by some scofFer in mockery of bad governments and 
worse rulers. 

It makes a pretty flourish in a sophist's declama- 
tion, that rendering honour descendible to men's 
children excites them to enterprise : that is, he 
who would be a hero where titular honours were 
granted at the will of the chief magistrate, would 
not be a hero to the same extent, if such honours 
were not transmissible to his posterity. Were this 
the case, where no inheritable titles existed there 
would be a dearth of exploits ; while on the con- 
trary where they were common, none would be 
seen but heroes of gigantic magnitude, achieving 
actions far exceeding the wonders of romance. Is 
it so ? Are the noblest deeds performed where titles 
are hereditary, or where they are not ? Is it only 
monarchies and aristocracies, that can boast of deeds 
of heroism ? Are republics without one hero to 
claim the palm of glory ? 

Suppose that the prospect of a title being trans- 
mitted to the descendants of the person ennobled 
inspired him with powers, which would otherwise 
have been strangers to his nature : suppose also, 
that titles were always granted consciendously to the 
most deserving^ What effect have they on passing 
from the original to his son ? By this they are de- 
preciated, for a title inherited is a title unmerited ; 
and the intrinsic value, which they might have had^ 



446 fFant of Fcunily no Bat 

is in conseque^ice lost not only in the eyes of aM 
considerate and honourable men, but of all mea 
who permit themselves to use their understanding. 
There never was a more effectual method to dis* 
credit titles, than to make them pass by descent^ 
like any common species of property. 

It is said in the same vapid strain in favour of 
hereditary titles, that they induce those v^ho are so 
honoured, to regard with aifection the deeds of 
their ancestry, and to endeavour not to disgrace 
their names. Surely the father's glory is a great 
incitement to his son ; so great, that, should there 
be but one latent seed of virtue in his nature, it 
must expand and fructify under so genial an influ- 
ence. But is it because sons possess their father's 
honours without exertion^, and v/ithout any one of 
those qualifications which distinguished him, that 
they will pursue the same arduous path as he did 
in their attainment ? Reasoning, ancient and mo-^ 
dern history, existing facts, all absolutely deny the 
presumption. The son of this lord or that earl 
finds himself even from his nursling state upwards 
a legislator ; the babe takes precedence of the wisCj 
the learned, the virtuous, and the aged. Thus he 
is distinguished without effort : What strong induce- 

' Du ttalde says^ a< all men are equal in China, they apply 
to study to distinguish themselves. Vol 2, p. 99. 



to Represejiting the People, 447 

ments has he then to forego his quiet ? An unac- 
countable love for popularity may rouse him to for- 
get his hereditary honours, and place him among 
the candidates for popular applause ; but he must 
disembarrass himself of his robe of state, he must 
quit his former habits, and adopt the exercise, the 
diet, and habits of his competitors, if he expect,' 
that a laurel crown, and not a crown of thorns, 
awaits his exertions. 

Thence it is, that these children of the royal 
prerogative are either defeated in their puny endea- 
vours, when they contend with the sons of the 
commonwealth ) or languish in solemn contempla- 
tion of their own hereditary honours. Few of them 
would disparage themselves by disputing the meed 
of popular glory with plebeians ; and how few are 
there among them, who do not think, that their 
patent of nobility confers a title to all that is ho- 
nourable and estimable among men ! They can 
scarcely think otherwise ; for it is not merely the 
suggestions of self, sycophants avow it. Wherever 
one of those representatives of majesty resides, a 
puny court and it's vices quickly appear; for it 
is not merely within the vortex of the royal resi- 
dence, that flatterers are whirled ; the seat^ of every 
duke, and marquiss, and earl, have their eddies, 
where a minor race of parasites and dependents 



448 tVant of Family no Bar 

sport awhile and sink. Wherever there are heredi- 
tary nobles, as in the monarchies of Europe, there 
will be wretches, who, like those Israelites who of- 
fered incense in high places to false Gods, forget 
true nobility distinguished by God's unequivocal 
appointment, and adore the idol of man's creation. 
Flattery and falsehood pass abroad, and the disease 
becomes so general, that the public opinion and the 
public judgment are contaminated. Then men will 
not be condemned without knowing their rank ; 
and the same action, that hangs the plebeian, will 
pass uncensured in the peer. This also will be the 
rule of mercy to the prerogative ; nor will the 
people protest against it. '' The profligacy of a 
man of fashion," says Smith ^, " is ever looked on 
with much less contempt or aversion, than that of 
a man of nearer condition.** Nay the people will 
sanction the whole, and some of them, exceeding 
kings and nobles, will perhaps join in Burke's^ 
rhapsody on the crimes of those exalted persons, 
and say with him, " that in them vice lost half it's 
evil^ by losing all it's grossness." 

As the people are courteous to these patrician 
dignitaries, their insoleoce to all not descended like 

* Inquiry info the Moral Sentiment, vol. 1, p. 15a 

* Reflexions on the French Revolution^ p. 113. 



to Representing the People, 449 

themselves increases in an extraordinary degree. 
Contempt and haughtiness Sallust' considers as the 
common infirmity of nobles ; exemption'' and im- 
munity follow each other in their favour : thence 
they add prerogative to privilege, and office to office ; 
sinecure places are continued, sinecure places are 
created, and pensions are superadded to these. 
Largesses are authorized, and peculation in the pro- 
vinces, and frauds on the exchequer, are protected 
by the nobility. Their court absolves the criminal. 
No wonder that men of conscious merit and inde- 
pendent souls cannot brook their insolence, or endure 
their crimes. Then arise enmity and discord be- 
tween the oppressors and the oppressed. The op- 
pressed lament their sufferings, they are disregarded; 
they remonstrate, they are deluded : they again 
announce iheir wrongs, and xtheir remedy I they are 
called libellers and are spurned, or they are prose- 
cuted for libels, and they are pronounced guilty or 
guiltless, as servile compliance, or a love of liberty 
and justice, disgraces or honours their judges. The 
threatened storm blows over. Again the same mag- 

' Tamen inerat contemptor animus et superbia^ commune 
nobiliias malum. De Bello Jugurth. p. 115. 

® There were 50000 nobles in France before tho revolution 
who were exempted from taxation. St. Pierre, Annales Poli- 
tiques, t. 1, p. 25. All nobles in Russia are also exempted^ 
Macartney's Post. WorkSj vol. 2, p. 12. 
VOL. I, 2 G 



450 Want of Family no Bar 

nanimous disposition breaks forth, and the same 
contest begins; the popular party triumphs, and 
liberty is proclaimed, or an equal power prolongs 
the contest. Then the dregs of fanaticism, metho- 
dists and millenarians, float on the disturbed mass ; 
or the aristocratical party triumphs, and slavery is 
the doom of the nation. Wherever there are nobles 
and people, unless the state be dead to it's situation, 
there must be dissension and enmity. The nobles 
will assume what their merits never assigned to them, 
and the people will expect, that justice be done to 
their pretensions. Then libels are disproved by 
facts, slander retaliated by satire, insult by igno- 
miny, and violence is beaten down by force — prov- 
ing the truth of Xenophon' and MachiaveFs'' re- 
mark, that in states divided betv/een people and 
nobles, factions and commotions distract the land. 
Wherever nobles exist, the people's merit is depress- 
ed, dishonoured, and traversed, even to the loss of 
the strength and consequence of the nation. After 
the frequent and immense achievements of the Cid^ 

' De Repub. Athen. p. 700. 

® Storia, lib. 3, p. 86. This is not strange, for they dispute 
with each other for precedence ; which was so troublesome in 
Russia, that Alexis Michaelovich had all the titles of the Rus- 
sian nobility burned. 

^ Mariana, lib. 9, year 10/5. It is said of Cimon, that by 
his generalship he procured a safe retreat to his countrymen 
thirty days after his death. Plutarch, Cimon. 



to Representing the People, 451 

for the crown of Spain and the nation at large, the 
courtiers leagued against him, and he was driven 
into exile. Thus were this man's services treated 
by them, whose fortune in war continued his at- 
tendant even to the grave, for his funeral procession 
put to flight the enemies of the Spanish arms. Nor 
v/as Columbus better treated by the same nobles of 
the same country. His greater merit rendered him 
more obnoxious to their envy. First they laboured 
to retard his voyage, and they succeeded. He per- 
severed, he prevailed, and he led the enterprise. 
While abroad they persecuted him, and on his vic- 
torious return they assailed him in various ways. 
They had him seized and thrown into chains, they 
attempted to rob him of the profits of his voyage^ 
and the glory of his discovery. They dared even 
to depreciate his genius, that genius which enabled 
him to infuse into a tedious and timid ministry 
a portion of his own intelligence and spirit, and 
fmally, triumphing over all difiGculties of men and 
elements, to redeem from a v/ilderness of waters 
another world. 

I am by no means disposed to reject or discredit 
ranks and gradations in society, 

'' For orders and degrees 



'*■ Jar not with liberty, but well consent ^'* 

* Milton's Paradise Lost, b. 5> ver. 79 1. 
2 G 2 



452 Profession no B 



But they should not be those which a supercilious" 
prerogative, or an overbearing usurpation, creates or 
retains. Such distinctions are inimical to society, 
and a defiance to nature. Nature labours to destroy 
them. Those at Rome who were called the greater 
and less nobility were gradually extinguished. 
Even the nobles created by Julius and Augustus 
Cagsar were nearly extinct in the time of Claudius'; 
and it is said, that there is only one lineal descen- 
dant now in Britain of those nobles, who accom- 
panied William in his conquest of the country. 
Thus nature perpetually traverses the presumption 
of man, cutting off at once his name and his race, 
while on the other hand she perpetuates the bene- 
ficial and legitimate ranks of society, by the means 
she takes to preserve society itself. I therefore con- 
clude, that family has no merit in itself, and con- 
sequently .that it should not affect a 'citizen's eligi- 
bility or ineligibility to represent his fellow-citizens. 

Relative to PROFEssiaNS I have only a few words 
to advance ; for though in many states some profes- 
sions were prohibited or excluded, as at Rome, 
where senators were forbidden to trade ; and as at 
Thebes\ where no one, who exercised any mer- 
cantile business within ten years, was eligible to the 

» Tacit. Annal. 11, c. 25. - 

^ Aristotle, De Repub. lib. 3, c. 5. / 



to Representing the People, 453 

magistracy ; I can perceive no reason for such re- 
gulations. If a profession disqualify a man from 
being a legislator, (unless where the employment 
implies the person's inability to fulfil the functions 
of both,) I see no reason, why such a profession 
should be tolerated in the state. 

With regard to religion, as I have spoken so 
largely on it already in discussing the rights to the 
elective franchise, and I shall have occasion here- 
after, when I come specifically to consider religion^ 
to resume the same subject at some length, I shall 
briefly dismiss it at present. I conceive, that a wise 
government should merely regard the virtues and 
capacities of it's people : speculative opinions and 
religious beliefs are beneath it's animadversion. 
Neither should sects nor religions be rejected of 
preferred on account of their dogmas. This is not 
new to the nations of the Earth. Gibbon says. 



is 



that, according to the administration of Zin 
the various religious systems of Moses, of Maho- 
met, and of Christ, were practised in freedom and 
concord in the precincts of the same camp. Equal 
liberality directs the policy of the Birman empire ■ : 
" No matter/' says Symes, " what was the religion of 
a man's father. Pagan, Jewish, Christian, Mahome« 

' Gibbon's D. and Fall, c. 64, p. 270, 
* Symes's Embassy to Ava, p. 73. 



454 Religion no Bar 



&" 



tan, whether he was a follower of Confucius, or a 
worshipper of fire, his children by a Eirman woman 
are entitled to every privilege, as were he descended 
from a line of Birman ancestry." I may also re- 
mark with regard to this government, " that pub- 
licity is the prevailing system of it's conduct : they 
admit no secrets either in church or state'." In 
Russia, says Tooke% (and is it not melancholy, 
that we are to be taught philosophy and toleration 
by that monarchy ?) Christians, Turks, Heathens, 
Hindoos, may aspire to all civil and military situa- 
tions in the empire. The same is the equitable ad- 
^ ministration of China. Lord Macartney's^ words 
are, " There is properly no established religion in 
China, none to which any . monopoly of particular 
privileges is attached, none that excludes the profes- 
sors of another from office or command." This 
liberality in two governments, which extend over 
one sixth'^ of the Earth's surface, should direct my 
regulations concerning religionists and sectaries of 
every denomination. 

Thus I have explained the reasons, which induce 
me to consider, that neither property, nor family, 
nor professions, nor religion, are sufficient grounds 

* Symes's Embassy to Ava, p. 210. 

* Tooke's Life of Catharine, vol. 3, p. 183, 
' Post. Works, vol. 2, p. 430. 

** This is Macartney's computation, P. W. vol. 2, p. 463. 



to Representing the People, 455 

to withhold any man either from electing or repre- 
senting his fellow citizens. To have proved the 
impropriety of such limitations is a considerable ad- 
vance towards the completion of our attempt. We 
liave impeached many unjust, capricious, and dis- 
graceful lav/s and customs : but these must be 
completely destroyed, before we can fully direct our 
attention to those great objects, sought and ordered 
by so many ancient historians, orators, and sages — 
liberty and equality : by Isocrates^, by Plato^, by 
Xenophon^, by Aristotle*, by Demosthenes^ by 
Polyblus^, by Dionysius of Halicarnassus^, by Plu- 
tarch*, &c, Nbr were the Romans less express on 
this point than the Greeks. Seneca^ says, that 

* Tgc$ h Krotr^T'ai koci ra; oiJ.oiorrj'T'oi^. Areopagit. p. 257. 

' Uccvrcuv ccv^pujv apiroi 'tr^v otJioiorYjrcx, xai lo-oty^roCy xaci ra 
7'a.uTov y.cLi ovioXoysi/^svov ri^oovT'sg x.cL'toi (pucriv ^yj avi-rits, &■€• 
De Legib. lib. 5, p. 848. 

He proceeds : M^rs lisoi rojv ^(xXzitr^v eiyoci TTccpa, r'lcn tojv 
ntoXiruov [jiyjr ocTtABtov, &c. 

® HoXiT'siag scroijisyr^s sv Tois icois koli oi^oioi;. Hist. Graec. 
lib, 7, p. 628. 

^ De Morib. lib. 5, c. 10 j De Repub. lib. 3, c. 6, and c. 17. 

^ Toc$ rrjs KTYiyopsiccg xoci rcx,$ rris EXsvhpia,;. Adv. Mediam, 
p. 623. 

^ Lib. 2, c. 2, & c. 8 ; lib. 4, c. 83 lib. 6, c. 2. 

^ Antiq. Rom. lib. 4, p. 286. 

* '0,$ eXivhpiois oLpx^lv oua-oLv ^tjv icrorijra. Dion. Opera, 
p. 591. Msv ovv eXevQepiav ^.aXifa ^ay^aa^efv xa< i<T(irr^ray 
X<)yog. Themistocles, p. 90. » Epistola 30. 



-^' 



456 Representing the People. 

equality is the first part of equity ; which sentiment 
we might suppose induced, were it not the sugges- 
tion of reason itself, the following observation by 
Ferguson \ " that the love of equality and the love 
of justice were originally the same," 

I shall proceed in the second volume to show 
what circumstances in my apprehension should ex- 
clude persons from enjoying the elective franchise, 
and from representing the nation in the legislature. 

* Civil Society, part 2^ s, 2. 



END OF THE FIRST VOLUME. 



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